Buffy Summers: Code Name Slayer - Part 3 (The Avengers)
by Kitkat5979
Summary: After the events in Sunnydale Director Fury is finally able to form his all powerful team. The Avengers. However with a resistant Buffy being hesitant about joining the team, the tension between the team is high. But that always seems to happen when you have two Stark's in one room.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy any of it's characters or the Avengers**

* * *

 **Sunnydale, California May 22nd 2010**

Tony speeds through the Sunnydale sky searching for Buffy "Where is she Jar?"  
 _"_ _Five miles north."  
_ Tony speeds ahead and spots the tower where he could currently spot Buffy and Dawn. Tony frowns in confusion however his eyes widen as he sees Buffy running towards the edge "Nooooo!" He screams as he speeds full speed towards Buffy as she jumps into the ball of energy bellow.

Tony watches as Buffy is consumed in the energy "Noooo!" He screams as he finally reaches the energy ball. The ball dissipates and Tony catches Buffy in his arms as she falls from it.  
Tony lowers himself to the ground and rips off his mask placing her head in his lap "Buffy? Hey kid? Come on you gotta get up." He says practically begging.  
Tony places his hand on her neck "Jarvis check vitals."  
 _"_ _Sir."  
_ "Jarvis! Check her vitals now!"  
 _"_ _Sir, there is no pulse. I'm afraid she is gone."_

Tony shakes his head in disbelief as he stares down at his daughter "No, no you're not—not—you're not dead. You can't." Tony clutches the girl to him as he weeps "Come on Buff, girl, I need you. You're my girl. Buffy! You're not dead!"  
Tony falls apart clutching his daughter to him begging her to come back.

* * *

Tony stares at the grave of his beloved daughter, the others had left hours ago but here he had stayed merely staring at the grave of the person he cared most about in this world.  
"Buffy Anne Summers Stark, Beloved Daughter, sister. Devoted Friend. She saved the world a lot." Tony reads her grave, smiling fondly at the words.  
Tony crouches down by the grave, he places a hand on the headstone and let's a tear fall "I love you Buff." He says softly closing his eyes as the tears fall.  
Slowly he places a bouquet of flowers on her grave before standing "Goodbye, Buffy." He says sadly before heading for his car.

* * *

 **Malibu, California**

Tony climbs out of his car, his face completely void of emotion as he slowly makes his way up the driveway and to the house.  
The billionaire closes the door behind him as he enters the house before merely standing in the doorway and staring at the mess that was his house.  
For several minutes he stands there, unmoving, completely emotionless. His feet seem to finally come back to life and he makes his way down to the garage.

As he enters the room, he freezes, the place that had once been his place of solitude, the place where he could go to gather his thoughts...just seemed wrong.  
He looks around at the room "It's not right." He mutters to himself as he starts wondering around the room, he pauses at Buffy's desk "It's not right." He says again before spotting her suit over in the corner.

A sudden burst of rage explodes inside him and he ends up slamming his hands on the desk before tilting it over. He grabs the jackhammer to the right of the table and starts smashing everything in the room to bits as he screams.  
He smashes the computer screens before slamming the hammer down on several of the cars in the room.

Lastly he walks over to the glass cases, which kept his suits and Buffy's. He glares at the glass before raising the hammer once again and breaking the glass. As the glass shatters around him Tony continues to swing the hammer, managing to dent several of the suits, which if Buffy had not check for weaknesses would have likely been nothing but piles of scrape metal, caused by the amount of damage he was causing.

Tony continues to swing the hammer, destroying nearly everything in the room before he storms up the stares.  
He slams the mirrors as he walks into the hall and breaks the bookshelfs on his way to the staircase.  
Tony climbs the stairs to the second floor and makes his way to one of the bedrooms, he pauses momentarily at the one at the end of the hall.

Taking a deep breath he slowly pushes the door open, the rage slowly fades and the hammer drops from his hand.  
Tony takes a hesitant step into the room staring at every aspect of the room. Buffy's room. He looks around sadly, soaking up everything from the posters on the wall to the small piggy currently sitting on one of the chairs in the corner of the room.

Tony walks over to the dresser and picks up a photo of Buffy with Xander and Willow. He stares at the photo for what felt like hours before he finally notices that the picture was wet due to his tears.  
Tony falls to the ground and stares at the photo "You weren't supposed to die. I need you here Buff."

* * *

 **S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters**

Fury walks into his office reading the report Agent May had written on the trip to Sunnydale. He places the file on his desk before taking a seat, just as he was about to continue reading his computer starts beeping.  
Fury raises an eyebrow and turns to the screen where he could now see security footage from Sunnydale.

His eyes widen as he watches the young slayer leap off the top of a tower into a large ball of energy, he watches shocked as Stark catches his daughter as she falls from the energy before he breaks down on the ground in grief.

Fury looks up at his celling "Whistler get your damn ass down here and explain to me what the hell is going on!"  
When nothing happens Fury pushes himself away from his desk "Whistler!"

"Dude!" Whistler exclaims as he appears in the door way, rubbing his temples "I am nurseling one hell of a hangover over here, could you take it down a notch?"  
Fury glares at the demon "I suggest you explain to me what the hell is going on otherwise that notch will be ripping off your head."  
"Esh with the imagery." Whistler mutters before moving to sit in one of the chairs opposite's Fury's desk. Whistler just sits there causing Fury to glare at him, Whistler sighs "The slayer sacrificed herself to save the world. And would you look at that she did just that."  
Fury just continues to glare at him, clearly not amused, Whistler sighs "Look I get it, you wanted her for you're oh so cool superhero team. Don't worry, you can still have her."  
Fury frowns in confusion "What the god damn hell are you talking about, demon. You just said she was dead."  
Whistler chuckles "Oh you simple minded mortal."  
Fury's frown turns back into a threatening glare "What'd you just say?"  
The look on Fury's face makes Whistler pause "I mean you oh so great director of SHIELD."  
"That's better." Fury grins "But be less of a kiss ass next time though."

Whistler chuckles before going on "Like I was saying, there is a lot you mister don't know about the supernatural world. This isn't going to be like your little T.A.H.I.T.I project—"  
Fury cuts him off astonished "That's level 10, how did you know about—"  
"The Powers tell me things that interest them. Your little project interests them. And when I say interests I mean, they don't like people playing god with life and death. Unless they are—well them."  
Fury rolls his eyes "I don't give a damn bout what the powers like and don't like about me and mine. Just explain."  
"Well let's just say mark October 2nd on your calendar."  
Whistler stands and makes his way to the door but Fury's question makes him pause "What happens on October 2nd?"  
Whistler turns to him "You know how I said that the god in Sunnydale would make Buffy different, how the events that take place would change her forever." Fury nods "Good, cause in 147 days you are gonna see exactly what she changed into. Cause I can honestly say the happy bubbly blonde you knew, well when we see her again she's not gonna be that innocent girl anymore."  
Whistler gives him a wave before heading out of the door.

Fury sighs and flops back down into his chair, he then reaches out calls his assistant "Call Agent Romanoff there is something she needs to know."

* * *

 **21 days After Buffy's Death**

Pepper wipes the tears from her face for the third time that day, she sniffles slightly before taking a small breath and turning back to her computer.  
Pepper had been trying to run Stark Industries but ever since Buffy's passing she just couldn't focus. Tony was shutting himself off and digging himself into a hole much deeper than the one he had dug himself into for years after his parents had passed.

Pepper had no idea what to do for him, Tony had lost his daughter, there was no way she could help him, she couldn't even imagine the pain he was experiencing.  
As she continues to stare at the computer neglecting her work her phone begins to ring.  
Pepper reaches out a shaky hand and answers it "Hello?"  
 _"Hey Pepper."_ Rhodey says, his voice as equally sad as hers.  
"James, how are you?"  
 _"Bout as good as you I recon."_ Rhodey takes a deep breath before asking the dreaded question, _"How is Tony?"  
_ Pepper sighs sadly "His daughter is dead, James. I don't—I don't think he's going to recover from it this time. He's just lost too much."  
Rhodey sighs _"I talked to Dawn."  
_ Pepper's eyes widen "How is she?"  
 _"Miserable but Pepper...she asked Tony not to let anyone find out that Buffy was dead."  
_ "What?!" She exclaims "Why—why would she do that?"  
 _"Apparently something to do with Sunnydale. They have a robot, which looks like Buffy, they are using it to make everyone believe Buffy is still alive, so they can't let anyone find out she's dead._ _She asked Tony not to let the press know."  
_ Pepper sighs "No wonder he won't answer our calls. He doesn't want to go out in public and pretend that he's daughter is still—"

"Miss Potts." Her assistant calls as she enters the room "Your meeting with the council is in five minutes."  
Pepper sighs, she had completely forgotten about the meeting "Thank you Allison." Pepper says before taking a deep breath and turning her attention back to her phone.  
"James, I have a meeting, I'm sorry I have to go."  
 _"I'm going to go see him, Pepper."  
_ Pepper shakes her head "I don't think that's a good idea—"  
 _"Look if he tries to kill me I'll know you were right, but—Buffy was my god daughter and Tony is my best friend, I don't want him going through this alone."_

* * *

Rhodey walks into Tony's place and freezes at the sight of the living room. The place was completely trashed, broken glass and furniture covering every corner of the floor. The place looked as bad as it had after their fight months ago.  
Rhodey sighs sadly as he spots the picture of him, Tony and Buffy when she was five, it seemed to be the only thing in the whole room that wasn't destroyed.

Slowly Rhodey walks towards the garage, as he climbs down the stairs he winces slightly at the loudness of the blasting music currently playing, making it hard for him to hear his own thoughts.  
"Stairway to Heaven?!" Rhodey yells over the music as he enters the room "Thought you were an AC/DC man?!"  
Tony who was currently battering one of the old cars with a hammer, looks over at his best friend and simply says "Didn't feel right." Before turning back to the car.

Rhodey sighs before turning down the music and looking around the room, just like the living room there was glass all over the floor as well as scrap metal and broken computer pieces. The two desks in the middle of the room where even cut in half "God, what did you do Tony?" Rhodey breaths.  
Tony who had heard the question continues to batter the car in front of him as he whispers "I wasn't fast enough."  
Rhodey frowns and moves closer to his friend, cautiously "Wasn't fast enough to what Tony?"  
Tony shakes his head, refusing to answer the question and just continues to beat on the car.  
Rhodey makes his way over to his friend "What weren't you fast enough to do Tony?"  
"Can't change it now. Why does it matter?" He asks as he slams the hood of the car again.  
Rhodey moves in front of Tony blocking him from hitting the car again, "Get out of my way Rhodes." Tony hisses.  
"No." Rhodey says stubbornly "Tell me Tony."  
Tony just glares at him "Get out of my way. I'm not gonna say it again."  
"What you gonna do?" Rhodey asks, knowing that he was pushing but he just couldn't help it, he wanted to see if he could get a rise out the man, "Come on Tony what you gonna do? You gonna hit me? You gonna actually express some sort of emotion for once?"

Tony growls before tossing the hammer at the wall, leaving a gaping hole.  
He moves towards his half broken desk and slams his hands down, breathing heavily "I couldn't—I—Couldn't save her."  
Rhodey's eyes widen "You think it's your fault." He sighs sadly "Tony it was not your fault. You heard what Dawn said, Buffy chose to sacrifice herself...to save the world."  
Tony shakes his head "She's—" He pauses "She was 20 years old. She didn't deserve this life... My daughter didn't deserve to die."  
Rhodey takes a deep breath before approaching his friend, more cautiously this time "You're right. She didn't deserve this but she died a hero Tony and—"  
Rhodey is caught off guard as Tony chuckles angrily "Died a hero yeah. A hero that can't be given a proper burial, can't have an actual funeral." Tony takes a long deep breath "She's gone and I have to keep pretending that she's still here. And—it's killing me."


	2. Chapter 2

**35 Days After Buffy's Death**

Tony sits in the gym he had built for Buffy years ago, his hands bloody from hitting the punching bag. He takes the half empty bottle of whiskey in his hands and brings it to his lips, downing the whole thing, once he has drained the last drop he tosses the bottle to the ground before crawling across the floor to the table.

He goes to the side table and reaches up, he grabs the nearest bottle only to find it empty, he pouts "Empty, well that's no good." He slurs before tossing the bottle to the ground. He reaches for the other bottle and smiles when he finds a full bottle of bourbon "Yay!" He cheers before taking the cap off "Bottoms up." He says before bringing the bottle to his lips, and drinking deeply.  
The click of a pair of heels makes Tony sigh "Looks like my grief counselor is here." He says with a chuckle before downing the rest of the bottle.

Pepper pushes the door open and freezes at the sight, she watches as Tony sits on the ground surrounded by empty bottles of alcohol.  
She stands in the doorway watching him sadly before sighing "Talk to me Tony. You've been hauled up here for over a month now."  
Tony glances up at her "Only a month and here I thought it was 4. Guess time really does move slower when your entire family is dead."  
Pepper shakes her head sadly "Buffy would kick your ass if she saw you like this." She says sternly, regretting saying it straight away "Tony—"  
Tony doesn't let her continue "Well she's dead. So looks like I'm not gonna be getting my ass kicked anytime soon."  
Pepper's eyes widen in shock at what he had just said, she looks at him stunned before stepping closer and crouching down next to him "Tony—"  
"She dead."  
Pepper sighs "I know. I'm sorry Tony."  
Tony looks over at her sadly "She's gone Pepper. I don't know what to do. I have nothing else left."  
Pepper's eyes widen as she looks at him sadly, before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

Tony sits there frozen for several seconds before he slowly wraps his arms around the red head "Me and Rhodey need you here." Pepper whispers "Buffy would want you to live your life the best you can. Not to wallow up and hide yourself away." Pepper pulls away and wipes the tears from her cheeks before smiling at the billionaire softly "Be the person she always knew you could be. The man she helped bring out, someone who didn't care about money or fame, just about helping people. I know you don't want to accept it—but—but she's gone. And you need to make her proud."

Tony looks at her sadly before glancing back down at the new bottle of gin in his hands, hesitantly he places the bottle on the ground and turns back to Pepper "I'll make her proud."

* * *

 **56 Days After Buffy's Death**

"Tony are you sure you wanna do this?" Pepper asks, as she watches Tony place his things in boxes, still stunned by what he had told her.  
Tony nods in confirmation as he places the photo of him, Buffy and Rhodey in one of the boxes "I can't stay here, Pepper. It's just too painful. I can't even go in the garage anymore without it feeling wrong... I just—I just need to get out of Malibu for a while. Do something productive."  
Pepper looks at him sadly but nods "Are you going to sell the mansion?"  
Tony freezes, he hands frozen in mid air still holding onto a large book "No." He says simply, he knew he couldn't stay here, but there were too many memories of Buffy for him to just sell the house.  
Pepper sighs before looking around the room, the walls were now bare of photos however all the furniture was still in place.  
"So where do you want to go?" She finally asks, after several minutes of silence.  
Tony turns to her "Figured I'd go to New York for a while. Stay in the Stark tower. Focus on my work for a while."

* * *

 **77 Days After Buffy's Death**

 ** _New York City_**

It had been three weeks since Tony had left the mansion, his condition although still in mass amounts of pain about Buffy's death, was slowly improving. He would distract himself with project after project. He started with his suits. It seemed as though he created a new one everyday, each with their own specific function, but they kept him at peace, building them reminding him of the time when he and Buffy had built the Mark II.  
Tony who was currently staring at a metal arm frowns before tossing it on the ground in frustration "Dammit!" He exclaims in frustration before turning to the computer screen.  
"Jar help a guy out, what am I doing wrong?"  
 _"_ _It seems that the metal cannot withstand that amount of pressure, that seems to be why it is coming apart."  
_ Tony sighs and rubs his head in frustration "And this has never happened before because..."  
 _"_ _Miss Summers Stark would test each individual piece of metal, and using her own strength she would find it's weak points and then have me enhance the strength the metal of your suit could handle."  
_ Tony nods sadly "Buff was the smart one." He says before turning back to the unfinished suit "I guess we're just gonna have to figure out this one on our own, pal."  
 _"_ _It seems so Mr Stark."_

* * *

 ** _Sunnydale, California_**

Willow watches the Buffy-bot and sighs sadly, having it around, although necessary it caused so much pain to all of them. Willow completely understood why Mr Stark had left town after that night so quickly, and why he refused to come back after finding out that he had to pretend that his only daughter was still alive.  
At that moment Xander walks into the room "Wil?" He calls before spotting her and offering her a small smile "Hey, I'm here. You said it was important."  
Willow looks up at him before glancing back at Dawn who was currently sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework, Willow turns back to Xander and nods "It is." She says simply before grabbing his hand and pulling him upstairs and to her room.

"O-kay." Xander says suspiciously "You're officially being weird and cryptic. You're not trying to do a love spell again are you?" He half jokes.  
Willow shakes her head "Xander! This is important don't crack jokes right know."  
"Fine. What is it Wil?"  
Willow sighs and looks at him nervously before she starts pacing the room "Okay. I've been thinking—"  
"Okay now I'm really worried." He jokes before sitting down on the edge of her bed.  
She turns on him "Xander. I'm serious. What I'm about to tell you is big. Magical big."  
Xander looks at her more seriously this time "Willow, what is it?"  
"Buffy." She says "I found a spell. A proper one, it won't be like a zombie spell or anything. It's the real deal."  
Xander's eyes widen as he realises what she is getting at "Willow, you don't mean-"  
She cuts him off "Yes. I want to bring Buffy back. And I may have a way."


	3. Chapter 3

**100 Days After Buffy's Death**

 ** _New York City – Stark Tower_**

Tony was currently slaving over a new set of blueprints for an idea he had come up with the several nights ago.

His hair was in a crazy state and his eyes were bloodshot making it extremely clear that he hadn't slept but for the past few months he had barely slept anyway, due to reliving the night Buffy had died again and again. The man was now relying on power naps, coffee and Pepper more than anything else to keep him going.  
Tony continues to write across the blueprints trying to find the right calculations to make his plan a reality.

Due to Tony being so engrossed in his work he doesn't notice the elevator doors open nor the person who exits the elevator.

The person who had entered the room coughs making Tony gasp and fall out of his chair. Tony groans in pain as he lands on the ground before looking up and realising that it was in fact Nick Fury who had entered the room.  
Tony rolls his eyes "Seriously is knocking an issue with you spy people. You tap the door three times, ain't that hard."  
Fury just stares at the man "I knocked, you just didn't hear it." Fury looks at Tony closely as the billionaire slowly rises from his place on the floor and turns to face him "But at least I don't look like some stinking rat. Seriously when was the last time you showered."  
Tony frowns at the comment before smelling his armpit and shrugging "Yeh, ain't that bad. Now I'm busy working on my next big thing, so go away." Tony makes a shooing gesture at Fury before turning back to the blueprints.  
Fury looks down at the blueprints "Another suit?" He asks.  
Tony shakes his head, not looking up from his work "No. I'm trying to find a way to power the Stark Tower with clean sustainable energy."  
Fury nods "Well rather that, then blowing up everything in site."

After several minutes of silence Tony looks up at Fury "You're still here. Why don't you go do director-y stuff, or whatever it is you people do."  
"Checking up on a lose cannon is part of my job." Fury argues "And you sir, are a lose cannon."  
"Well as you can see, I'm not doing anything destructive." Tony pauses "I'm just trying to make her proud." He whispers to himself.  
Fury sighs sadly and decides to give the man some peace "Well as long as you stay like this then I don't have to deal with you." Fury turns and heads to the elevator, he freezes however and glances back at Tony "About Buffy—I'm sorry."  
Tony, who had frozen at the name of his daughter, turns to look at Fury "Ain't you fault. It's the damn God that I blame. My girl was a hero, she died a hero."  
A small smile grazes Fury's lips "Yeah, she was." He pauses "Speaking of God's I have my own to deal with. Goodbye Mr. Stark."

* * *

 **127 Days After Buffy's Death**

Tony sits nervously in his car, almost terrified of opening the door. He lowers the window and glances out at the forest in front of him, slowly he takes a deep breath before climbing out of the car and making his way into the forest.  
He walks through the forestry and into the main cemetery, he slowly and calmly walks closer to his first destination.

Tony stops in front of a large headstone and smiles sadly "Hey Joy." He says as he places a bed of lily's on the grave "You missed me?" He jokes before taking a deep breath and crouching down in front of the grave.  
"I know it's been a while." He says "But you know me. I'm an ass, and I don't like talking to things that don't talk back. Why do you think I made Jarvis? I didn't want to be that crazy person that talks to his computer, so I made sure the computer would respond."  
Tony stops babbling and looks at the name written on the grave intently, and runs his fingers over each letter slowly.  
"I'm sorry I didn't make it to your funeral." He says after several moments of silence "But I was being held captive and then all this other stuff. I would have visited but Buff wouldn't let me in town. She used the Pepper card."

Tony chuckles slightly before he takes a deep breath and clenches his eyes shut to keep from breaking down "I'm sorry Joy. I should—I should've protected her. You asked me to protect her and now she's gone." Tony shakes his head as a tear falls from his eye down his cheek. He hastily wipes the tear away and focuses on the grave again "I'm so sorry Joy. You trusted me and I screwed it up again, but you know me, I always do."  
Tony takes a deep breath before standing "You gave me the greatest gift I could have asked for. Our girl...she was everything we could have ever dreamed about and more. You would have been so proud of her Joy. I know I am... I love you Joy, thank you for giving me the greatest gift."  
Tony places a hand on the top of his best friend's grave before sighing "I'm gonna go see our girl. Goodbye...Joyce Summers."  
Slowly Tony removes his hand from her grave and makes his way back into the forest.

In a secluded area of the forest, hidden from everything and one, was the grave of Buffy Anne Summers Stark.  
Tony walks into the hidden section of the forest and straight over to his little girl's grave "Heyya Buff."  
Slowly he places the last batch on lily's on the grave before kneeling on the ground next to the headstone "Just talked to your mom kiddo. Big with the conversation that one." He jokes slightly as way to make this less painful.  
"So don't be mad but I sort of trashed the house again, but don't worry I live in New York now, so now everything stays intact."  
Tony sighs sadly "I miss you kiddo, I miss you threatening to kick my ass when I annoy you, or hit on Pepper too much." Tony pauses "You know it seems I'm slightly useless without you around. Can't even make a proper suit that doesn't fall apart straight away."

Tony smiles softly as he remembers them building the first suit together before a more saddened look crosses his features "I'm gonna say to you what I said to your mom. I miss you Buff. And I am so proud of you...I get that a lot of the time you were the parent in our relationship, but know that I do love you-and you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I don't regret a second...I just wish you had gotten to live the life you deserved."

Tony places his hand on the grave before slowly standing "Goodbye, Buffy Anne Summers Stark." He says sadly before hesitantly backing away from the grave and heading back towards his car.

* * *

 **October 1st 2010 – 146 Days After Buffy's Death**

 ** _Sunnydale, California_**

"Yeah, thank you again Mr. Stark." Xander says as he speaks to Buffy's dad on the phone "Alright, I'll let Dawn know thanks." Xander hangs up the phone and turns to the others.  
"How is he?" Tara asks as she turns to Xander.  
Xander sighs sadly feeling horrible and sympathetic towards the older, and richer man "He's putting on a brave face like all of us. But he's just trying to help Dawn out that's why he's been sending money down every week. I think helping Dawn makes him feel connected to Buffy in someway. But hearing his voice, it seems as though for him it's still only been a day since she died. The pain is still so fresh in his mind."  
"Poor man." Tara says sadly "Too lose your child like that, it's heartbreaking."

Willow who had been staring at the urn turns to the group "This is gonna change that. This is the one." She says calmly as she places the last known urn of Osiris on the table gently. "Which means it's time."  
Xander's eyes widen "It's time. Like, time time? With the...timeliness?"  
Anya turns to the redheaded witch, a look of worry on her face "Are you sure?"  
"I am." Willow tells them all.  
"Mercury's in retrograde, and we have..." Tara pauses and turns to Willow "Do we have everything?"  
Willow nods and stands from her seat "Just about."

Xander shakes his head, slightly panicky "But why the sudden rushy-rush? Did the bot blow our cover at school?"  
"No, she did great." Tara informs them "She impressed all the teachers."  
"And they still thought it was Buffy?"  
Willow interrupts and turns to the group "Tomorrow night, we'll meet back here."  
Xander stands in a panic and raises his hands "Whoa! Let's apply the brakes and check the rear and side-view mirrors here. This is deep stuff, Willow. We're talking about raising the dead."  
"It's time we stopped talking. Tomorrow night, we're bringing Buffy back."

"What about her father?" Xander asks "Stark is a reck without her, shouldn't we tell him, get his opinion on the whole thing before we raises his daughter out of her grave."  
"No!" Willow says sternly "Like you said Mr. Stark is a reck without her, if for some reason this goes wrong, I don't want to give him false hope. I don't want to tell him his daughter is coming home and then she just doesn't show up."

* * *

 ** _New York City_**

Tony stares at the new blueprints for his latest suit, he had come up with an idea whereby if he wore two metal cuffs on his wrists it would call the suit from wherever he was. He planned to have the cuffs scan DNA so not just anyone could use them and then the suit would form around him no matter where he was. He could be falling out of a 20-story building and it would work. Or at least he hoped it will.

 _"_ _It's an interesting new concept Mr. Stark."  
_ Tony nods "Yeah. Can we do it Jar?"  
 _"_ _I believe so. However from my calculations this suit will take much longer to put together than any of your previous suits."  
_ Tony frowns "I knew you were gonna say that. You just have to ruin my fun don't cha?"  
 _"_ _That is not my agenda Mr. Stark."  
_ "Damn right it ain't remember who built you." Tony then turns to the computer screen where a picture of him, Buffy, Rhodey and Pepper was his screen saver. He smiles slightly at the picture of his daughter.  
"Do you think she would have liked it Jarvis?"  
 _"_ _Honestly I believe Ms Summers would have yelled at you for planning something so dangerous, she would say why would you need a suit to come and save you from falling to your death. She would also call you an arse and say that you were falling because you were a dumbarse."_

Tony arches an eyebrow at that "Really? You sure about that?"  
 _"_ _I am merely quoting some of the previous things she has called you and it is highly likely that she would have in fact yelled at you before finally deciding to help you."  
_ Tony smiles at that "You know I miss her calling me a dumbass." He says sadly his voice dropping slightly.  
He closes his eyes and shakes his head "Okay back to work. Let's make the _Buffster_."  
 _"I believe Ms Summers would have maimed you for naming it that."  
_ Tony merely chuckles "I know."


	4. Chapter 4

**_October 2_** ** _nd_** ** _2010 – 147 Days After Buffy's Death  
S.H.I.E.L.D HEADQUARTERS _**

Nick Fury paces in his office as he waits for Agent Romanoff to arrive. He shakes his head and looks back at his calendar. Today was the day. The day Whistler had told him about.  
At that moment in walks Agent Natasha Romanoff "Sir? You wanted to see me?"  
"Natasha yes, please sit."  
Natasha does as he requests and goes to take a seat "What is this about sir?"  
"I need you to monitor Mr. Stark for several days."  
"May I ask why?"  
Fury sighs and sits down opposite her, "What I'm about to tell you is classified is that understood?"  
Natasha nods, her curiosity eating at her "Absolutely."  
"You remember Ms Summers?"  
Natasha nods "Impressive young girl. Would have been perfect for the Avengers Initiative. I was actually quite fond of her, like a younger sister. I honestly still can't figure out how Stark is her father."

Fury chuckles "You and me both." He then becomes more serious "You know about the world Ms Summers involved herself in. Not many do which is why you are the only person for this job. You see she still can be apart of our team."  
Natasha frowns in confusion, which was a rare thing for her to do due to her experience "Sir, Buffy Summers is dead how-?"  
"She is going to be resurrected. Tonight to be precise. I have a reliable source." Fury pauses "Well as reliable as sources from that world can be. Anyway her work here is not done here yet."  
Natasha sits there stunned however she doesn't question it, in all her years she knows how confusing the supernatural could be and how many supernatural elements were secretly hiding below the surface of this world.

Fury continues "Just observe Stark. Make sure he doesn't find out. We don't want to risk him finding out only for whatever is bring Buffy back not to work." Once we know if the slayer is back you can return to your mission in Russia."  
Natasha nods "Yes Sir."

* * *

 **Sunnydale, California**

"Osiris. Here lies the warrior of the people. Let her cross over." Willow chants as she kneels with others around Buffy's grave.

As she speaks cuts appear on her arms, leaking out blood, and small lumps then start to appear in her arms, however slowly they begin to move upwards as she speaks.  
"Willow!" Anya breaths as she stares horrified.  
Willow breaths heavily panting slightly in fear and pain.  
"She needs help!" Xander exclaims to Tara.  
"Xander, she's strong!" The other witch argues before continuing to watch in horror "She said not to stop, no matter what. If we break the cycle now, it's over."

At that moment the group of them start to hear motorcycle engines howling around them. The three panic while Willow is still focused on nothing else but the spell itself.  
"Osiris, let her cross over!" Suddenly Willow screams as the lumps crawl their way to her throat she falls to her hands and knees and cries as a snake slithers it's way out of her throat and onto the ground.

:

A red powerful, violent glow surrounds Willow as she continues the spell, her breathing becomes more panicked and quicker as she tries to continue "Osiris, release her!"  
Suddenly the Buffy-bot appears but ends up leading a group of demons right to the group.

Willow tries to keep going however one of the demons drives over the urn "No! Willow screams before collapsing.

:

As the gang scatters for cover they do not relies that 10 feet bellow in the coffin a red glow was surround the corpse slowly forming new tear and skin, giving live to the woman bellow.  
Finally her eyes roll back from her head and Buffy takes a sudden gasp in horror.

She stares wide eyed at the small space surrounding her, she tries to move but the coffin is too constricting.

Buffy takes panicked breaths as she starts banging her hands against the coffin, trying to find an escape, she tries to scream however her voice is practically non-existent.  
She tries again to call for help, however again her throat burns as she tries to yell and no sound makes its way out of her mouth.

Buffy looks up at the coffin, her vision cloudy however she is too panicked and traumatized to realise. She starts pulling at the material before punching her fist against the wooden coffin again and again.  
It takes several hits but finally she punches through, as she does dirt and mud start pilling into the coffin, filling it, Buffy keeps pulling at the wood trying to made the hole larger, once it's big enough she pulls herself out and up.

* * *

 **New York City**

 _"_ _Mr Stark, something appears to be happening in Sunnydale. Something quite peculiar."_

At the sound of Jarvis' voice Tony's head shoots up from the metal leg he was currently working on. He quickly stands and makes his way to the computer "Show me Jarvis."  
Jarvis does as he asks and suddenly the screen fills with security footage of the small town of Sunnydale, California. Tony's eyes widen as he watches several demons on motorcycles "Not good. So not good. Jarvis where is Dawn?" He asks the computer program.

The screen quickly flashes with images of the Summers' house " _There seems to be no one at the house, sir. The demons are causing destruction everywhere, perhaps Ms Summers went to find a save haven with the others."  
_ Tony stares at the screens trying to think of what to do, "Scan the town, look for Dawn. Now."  
" _Yes, Sir."_

* * *

 **Sunnydale, California**

Buffy continues to crawl through the dirt, finally after what felt like an eternity Buffy's hand punches through the ground, she quickly pulls herself upwards and takes a large gulp of air as she manages to get her head out of the dirt.  
Her breaths are panicked as she pulls herself upwards and out of the ground landing painfully on the floor.

Slowly the terrified and traumatized slayer stands, on shaky legs she turns slowly, first spotting the broken candles and ripped grass with black marks all across the ground. Slowly her eyes land on the headstone in the middle of the hell she had just escaped from. She stares and as her vision clears she is able to make out the name on the grave. Her eyes widen as she spots her own name, her breathing speeds up again in a panic before she takes off running.

* * *

 **New York City**

 _"_ _Sir I seem to have located Ms Summers."  
_ Tony turns back to the screen "Where is she Jarvis?" He asks slightly panicked, Dawn was Buffy's little sister and Buffy had died to make sure Dawn would get to live her life, Tony did not want that sacrifice to be in vain.  
Tony watches intently as the screens flip between different areas of Sunnydale, finally the images stop to show Dawn with Spike.

Tony sighs he didn't like the fact that Dawn with Spike, but he knew that Spike had promised to protect Dawn, and from watching in the background, how the vampire acted towards the younger Summers girl, Tony knew he would not let anything happen to her. But that doesn't mean that he completely trusts the man.

Tony is about to tell Jarvis to prepare one of the suits when the screen starts flashing again. "Jarvis what's going on?"  
 _"_ _Sir I spotted something on the security footage, the Buffy-bot seems to have been captured by the demons."  
_ Tony watches with interest as the screen shows the group of demons surrounding the Buffy-bot who was currently chained to four motorcycles.

His interest turns to horror as the lead demon shots a gun in the air, telling the demons on the motorcycles to drive. He stares shocked at the Buffy-bot is turn into bits however he freezes as he hears an extremely familiar voice scream.

Tony turns to the other screen which showed a different point of view of the whole scene, he squints his eyes slightly as he tries to find the screamer. He is completely frozen in place as he spots a small blonde in a black dress.

"That's—that's—she's—that's not possible."

Tony looks at the image more closely and quickly enhances the image, as he does there is no denying it "Buffy." He breaths, completely frozen in shock and disbelief he merely stands there, time itself seemed to freeze.  
His eyes widen and he is shaken out of his frozen state as he watches the demons turn to face Buffy.  
"Jarvis! Get my suit now!"

* * *

Natasha watches from the roof as the security footage shows the slayer, her eyes widen in shock. She stares for several minutes trying to process everything but as Stark starts putting on one of his suits she sighs "I've got to inform Fury."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sunnydale, California**

Tony flies through the town as fast as he possible could "Where is she?"  
 _"_ _North five miles, sir."  
_ Tony speeds forward and spots a group of demons being fought off by a small blonde.  
Tony quickly lands and grabs two of the demons throwing them face first into a wall, he then raises his hands and fires at the demons currently attacking Buffy.  
Tony turns to spot his daughter stab a demon in the stomach with his own knife before snapping another's neck with her bare hands.  
Tony doesn't say anything, he merely watches his daughter, slowly he lowers his helmet "Buffy?" He whispers.

Slowly the blonde raises her head and looks up at him, Tony breaks out into a small smile "Buffy." He breaths, however as he takes a step closer Buffy's eyes widen in panic. And as the metal hand gets closer to her she grabs Tony and tosses him against the wall before running off.  
"Buffy!" Tony yells as he groans in pain.

Tony stands and turns on the group "What the hell did you do to my daughter?!"  
Willow turns to the older man "Mr. Stark. I can explain, we did a spell..."  
"Really cause that's not obvious. Now excusing the part where you didn't tell me you were bringing my daughter back from the dead why don't you tell me, what-did-you-do-to-her?! Don't make me ask again."  
Xander takes a deep breath and looks at the man, regret clear in his expression "We brought her back. And we left her."  
Tony's eyes widen and his anger levels pick up at a rapid rate "You left her in her grave!"  
Willow tries to explain "Mr. Stark please, we didn't know. We didn't think the spell worked."

"That doesn't excuse what you did to her. You did this to her." Tony hisses before slamming his helmet back down "Stay the hell away from my daughter!" He warns.  
Xander tries to approach him but Tony holds out his arm and sends a small blast at the young man causing him to fly backwards, Tony then zooms upwards and starts searching for his daughter.

* * *

 **S.H.I.E.L.D HEADQUARTERS**

Agent Romanoff quickly rushes into the directors office.  
Fury's head shoots up as the door slams open revealing the redheaded agent, "Garrett I'll have to call you back." He says before hanging up the phone and turning back to his best agent "Natasha what is it?"  
Natasha stops as she comes to stand right in front of his desk "She's alive. You were right sir."  
Fury's eyes widen and he stands, keeping his hands on the desk as he leans towards her "And Stark?"  
"He saw her on security footage from Sunnydale, he's gone to go see her."  
Fury sighs as he begins rubbing his chin "What do we do next sir?" Natasha asks him.  
"Go to Russia." He tells her simply "I'll keep an eye on the Starks for now."

* * *

 **Sunnydale, California**

Tony flies in the direction that Buffy had run off in, when he spots the demon currently impaled by a metal pole he knows for sure he is going the right way.  
Tony sighs however it's then that he spots the tower, he looks closely and the screens in front of his eyes enhance his sight, as they do Tony spots Buffy climbing up the tower.  
"No." He breaths before taking off into the sky again and towards the tower.

Buffy stands on the edge of the tower staring at the ground bellow, as she does all she can do is replay her final moments over and over in her head, she remembers the clarity and closure from that moment. Everything in that single moment had been so clear.  
She closes her eyes "Dawnie, I have to." She says softly.  
"Buffy?" A voice says from behind her.

Buffy frowns in confusion as she realises the voice was not in her head, she turns to see Tony land on the tower before pulling his mask back.  
"You're here." He says, absolute joy evident in his voice "And I totally forgive you for tossing me and hurting my back."  
The blonde merely stares at him, not saying anything.  
Tony tries to take a step closer "Buff, what are you—" Suddenly the tower shakes violently.

As it does Buffy turns away from Tony and turns her focus back to the ground bellow.  
Tony's eyes widen "Buffy! No! Buff listen to me, do not go all jumpy here."  
Buffy doesn't say anything, Tony takes a deep breath "I'm your dad, all though you seem to prefer the term 'dumbass'. You are the only good in my life Buff, you make me better. So please, don't do this. Just come towards me, don't make me come get you, cause I know you won't like that."

The tower again shakes violently "Dammit Buff. You can't do this. This place was built by lunatics it is gonna come collapsing down."  
At that moment a small whisper escapes itself out of Buffy's throat "Is—this hell?"  
Tony stares at her stunned "Huh?"  
The blonde finally turns to face him as she speaks again, her voice breaking as she does "Is this hell?"  
"Buff. No. I get this place ain't pretty but this is our weird world. Trust me Buff. I know it's a lot to ask but you need to listen to me... whatever happened it's over. Just come with me."

Buffy doesn't say anything she just turns her back on him "It was so clear...on this spot. I remember...how...shiny...and clear everything was...but...now...now..."  
"Buffster." Tony tries "You gotta listen to me. I need you here. I've tried without you and life pretty much sucks. I've lost Joy, my mom... you are all I have of both of them. You're...you're my kid."  
Slowly Buffy turns to face him "Dad?"

At that moment the tower shakes violently again and as a piece of scrap metal falls; they hear a scream from bellow, the two look over to see Dawn.  
"Dawn!" Buffy yells.  
When the tower shakes again Tony quickly lowers his mask "Sorry, kid my turn to be the hero." He says before flying over and grabbing Buffy, as the tower starts to collapse in on itself Tony flies down and grabs Dawn as well before the tower can land on her.

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later – Stark Industries**

Pepper was currently working in her office when her phone started to ring "Pepper Potts." She answers as she continues to do her paperwork.  
"Pepper!" Tony else causing Pepper to wince slightly.  
"Tony what is it?"  
Pepper freezes as she realises something, she stares at the number he was calling from "Why are you in Sunnydale, Tony?"  
"She's alive!" Tony screams in joy being careful not to wake the sleeping Buffy, who was upstairs.  
Pepper frowns in confusion "Tony what are you talking about?"  
"Buffy. She's alive."  
Pepper's eyes widen "How—what—who—how?"  
"Spell—brought Buffy back from dead—Willow did it-Spell."  
Pepper groans in frustration "Seriously Tony?"  
"Pepper, you can yell at me all you want but she's alive. Buffy's alive."  
A small smile grazes Pepper's lips "She's alive."


	6. Chapter 6

**A Few Days Later**

"You want to what?!" The Scooby gang exclaim at Tony who merely sits at the dining room table not at all bothered by their outbursts.  
Tony glances up at them and merely says "I want Buffy to come home with me."  
Willow shakes her head "She's only been back a few days and after what happened with the traveler demon, you want to take her away from her home? Why?"

Tony sighs frustrated "Well what about the fact that she just came back and was already attacked by a demon who told her she didn't belong here." Tony pauses "Look it is the greatest thing having her back but...you can't just bring her back, have her tear her way out of her own grave and then just act like everything is going to go back to the way it was...she needs time away from this world, she needs time to just be able to do things for herself, to enjoy her life, not have to worry about everyone else for once in her life."  
Dawn who had stayed relatively silent finally speaks "I think it's a good idea."  
While Tony grins both Willow and Xander turn to her shocked "What?!" They exclaims.  
Dawn winces slightly before explaining herself "You didn't see Buffy on that Tower. Me and Mr. Stark did. Whatever happened to her there and then waking up in her own grave traumatised her. She needs a break...away from all of this."  
Tony nods in agreement with the youngest Summers "Look it won't be forever just for a while, till she's ready to come back." Tony looks at Buffy's best friends "I lost my daughter once, I refuse to lose her again. So i'm going to help her. I'm her father. Telling you was a courtesy I don't need your permission to take her home."

"Don't you need my permission?" Buffy asks, shocking them all as she stands in the doorway.  
Tony turns to his daughter stunned that he hadn't heard her "You are extremely creepy sometimes you know that right?"  
Buffy merely nods no smile or change in facial expression "So you wanna take me back to Malibu?"  
Tony hesitates "Actually I kinda moved out of the house. I mean I still have it but considering it's sort of missing a roof I figured best not stay there. I'm staying at the Tower."  
Buffy's eyes widen only slightly "The tower in New York?"  
Her father nods "Yeah. I like it there. So what do you say Buff? Wanna have a little break from being town hero?"

Buffy hesitates before looking over at Willow, Xander and Dawn "I don't think that's the best idea." She says as she turns back to her father.  
"Buffy." Dawn says, drawing her sister's attention "I think you should go."  
Buffy frowns "What about the hellmouth and everything?"  
Dawn offers her sister a small smile "It won't be forever we dealt with it for three months I'm sure a few more weeks won't hurt." Sensing her sister's hesitation Dawn stands and walks over to Buffy placing a hand on her shoulder "You need this. Go."  
Buffy stands there for a few minutes merely staring at the group, finally after what felt like an eternity for Tony she turns to him "When do we leave?"

* * *

 **New York City**

Buffy stares at the elevator doors completely zoned out, as her and Tony wait for the elevator to reach the sleeping quarters in the Stark Tower.  
Tony looks over at his daughter, although relieved and ecstatic to have her back there was a slight hint of worry. She had not spoken the whole plane ride to New York and had barley said three sentences to him in the past few days. The sweet bubbly little girl he knew had been through so much and it was taking a huge toll on her. He could see it. And it made him want to help her more than anything else.  
As the elevator comes to a stop Tony steps out and leads Buffy towards her new room, Buffy follows staying very quiet.  
As Tony comes to a stop outside one of the doors he turns to his daughter "Here you go Buff. Your new digs."

Buffy nods and pushes the door open, as she does she stands in the doorway "It's different from the last one."  
Tony sighs "Yeah. Your furniture is still at the house...I could have it brought here if you prefer..."  
"No. It's fine." She says flatly before making her way through the room.  
Tony watches his daughter softly, a worried expression on his face "So you want some Pizza or Chinese or both?" He smiles hoping to get a small laugh out of the girl.  
Buffy turns to face him, no sign of amusement on her face "Actually, I'm kinda tired. If you don't mind—"  
"Of course." He says with a nod "Um...if you need anything—"  
"I'm fine." She says simply "I'm fine."

* * *

Tony paces through the tower unable to sleep. His daughter was alive, was all he could think. Ever since he had found her in that alley that's all he could think, he was still trying to process everything. She was alive but Tony couldn't help but worry, the way she was acting worried him more than anything.  
"How is she?" Pepper asks as she appears in the doorway, her arms crossed, a worried frown on her face.  
Tony turns to face his girlfriend shocked that he hadn't heard her enter the room, Tony shakes his head "She's tired." Tony pauses "There is something she's not telling me. Whatever happened...wherever she was...I think it's done more damage then she's letting on."

Pepper sighs sadly and slowly she approaches Tony, she places her hands in his "What happened that night, Tony?"  
Tony glances back at Pepper before stepping away from her and moving towards the couch.  
Pepper's frown deepens in worry, she takes a deep breath before moving to sit opposite him "What happened when you found her, Tony?"  
Tony takes a deep breath, hesitating slightly before speaking "She looked at me, her eyes they were filled with terror. I've never seen her like that. And then on that tower...god..."  
"Tony?" Pepper tries to comfort him "Talk to me. What happened up there?"  
"She thought this was hell Pep and she wanted...I think she wanted..."  
"Wanted to what Tony?"  
"I think she wanted to jump."

Pepper's eyes widen in shock "Tony, she was traumatized, confused. She had just been pulled back from whatever hell dimension she had been trapped in, god knows what she was feeling in that moment."  
Tony runs his hands through his hair, trying to process everything "Having Buffy back is the greatest thing I could have asked for but I'm so worried that there is something she's not telling me. I just wish she would tell me what happened."  
"Give her time." Pepper tells him "One day she'll tell you. But she's not the person she was, she just needs time."  
Tony nods "God I'm such a sap."  
Pepper chuckles slightly "She's your daughter. But I promise no one will ever know." She jokes.  
Tony smiles "Yeah, can't have that."

* * *

 **THE NEXT MORNING**

Buffy is pounding on one of the punching bags in the gym, she had been here since 3 in the morning. Nightmares continued to plague her, horrors of being trapped underground, helpless and alone.  
Her fists continue to connect with the hard bag, the force of her hits making the bag sway more violently each and every time.  
The speed of her hits increase as she imagines being back in that box, clawing for breath, unable to call for help.  
As Buffy relives the scene again in her mind she sends one more punch at the bag, the hit is so powerful that the bag goes flying off the hook and lands on the opposite end of the room.  
Buffy merely stands there, breathing heavily as she stares at the now broken bag on the floor. She clenches her eyes shut trying to force the memories out of her head.  
After what felt like an eternity the 20 year old slayer moves over to the other side of the room where there were 5 more punching bags lined up.  
She grabs one and throws it over her shoulder before moving back to the hook, once she hangs it up, she re-wraps her hands before moving to continue her workout.

Tony watches the security footage of Buffy working out from the living room, he watches her carefully a worried frown on his face.  
 _"_ _Sir, Director Fury is here to see Ms Summers."  
_ Tony's eyes widen "What the hell is he doing here?"  
 _"_ _He requests an audience with Ms Summers."  
_ Tony scoffs and stands from his chair he heads towards the elevator but before he can stop it the doors open and in steps Fury himself.  
Fury smiles at the billionaire "How have you been?"  
"All peaches and lemon pies. What do you want?"  
Fury merely moves around Tony and walks into the living room, "How is she?" Fury asks as he looks at the books on the shelfs.  
"How do you think?" Tony asks before walking over to the bar and grabbing a drink, he raises the bottle towards Fury "Scotch?"  
Fury shakes his head "I'm good." Fury pauses and turns to him seriously "147 days. That's how long she was gone right? 147 days."  
Tony glances up at the director "Yep. Bout the same amount of time it takes for me to recover from a hangover...but I digress."  
Fury chuckles slightly "Well that girl's damn tough. Tougher than anything. She'll survive this. Agent May and Romanoff are two of my bests agents, they don't let themselves care a lot of the time but that girl is a different story. Your daughter has a light inside her that can make even the darkest of souls lighten up, even if it's just for a moment."  
"I know that. She's my kid. Plus Stark's are pretty awesome."  
Fury laughs softly "We both know she doesn't get that from you."  
Tony glares at Fury before huffing "What do you want? You're not seeing her."  
"Didn't expect to. Guess I just wanted proof that what Whistler told me was true. That girl...she's gonna do great things. This world may just need her."


	7. Chapter 7

**A Few Days Later**

Tony paces outside Buffy's room for several minutes before finally he enters the room "Buff?" He calls as he enters the room.  
"Yeah." Buffy says as she turns to face him.  
Tony frowns as he realises she had just been sitting on the end of the bed staring at the wall.  
"You okay?" He asks as he moves to sit next to her.  
Buffy merely nods "I'm fine." She says flatly, no emotion in her voice.  
Tony sighs and looks down to see Buffy's hand shaking "Buff?" He moves to take her hand but she flinches, finally she looks over at him, her eyes now filled with water "I'm fine." She stutters her voice shaking as she speaks "I'm fine."  
Tony eyes widen and he pulls his daughter into a hug "Buffy tell me what happened. Please."  
Buffy takes several shaky breaths before looking at her father, tears falling down her cheeks but instead of saying anything she shakes her head "I can't."  
Tony sighs "Buffy look, if this is about where...what happened to you there...you need to trust me, you're safe now."  
Buffy shakes her head again "No. I'm not. No one is. This world is cruel and it's filled with nothing but pain..."  
Tony frowns in confusion "Buffy, compared to where you were how can this be..."

Buffy's face falls and the emotion all slips from her expression "I was happy. Wherever I was...I was happy...at peace." Tony freezes and a look of despair covers his face "I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time...didn't mean anything. Nothing had form. But I was still me, you know? And I was warm. And I was loved. And I was finished. Complete. I-I don't understand theology or dimensions, any of it really...but I think I was in heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out, by my friends. Everything here is hard and bright and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch. This is hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that. Knowing what I've lost. They can never know."  
Buffy's voice shakes again "I was happy and now it's feels like I'm dying inside. I don't feel anything."  
Tony doesn't say anything he merely pulls his daughter into his arms and just stays there. He watches her sadly, anger and misery filling every emotion in his head.

* * *

 **Sunnydale, California**

"Maybe we should call her." Willow says as she paces the living room at the Summers house.  
Xander who was sat on the couch glances up at the red headed witch "She's hasn't even been there a week Willow why are you freaking out."

Willow shrugs before flopping on the couch next to one of her two best friends "I don't know. I mean it's not like Buffy didn't use to live with her dad..I guess it's just...since she's been back she's been...different."  
Xander frowns at the look on his friends face before sitting up and offering her a small smile "Wil, we dragged her out of some untold hell dimension. It's gonna mess with her."  
Willow nods, she completely understood that Buffy would be traumatized and distant but there was something that was still bugging her about the whole situation "I just feel like after all that shouldn't she be..."  
"Grateful." Xander realises, he sighs and looks at his friend carefully "Give her time. Dawn was right, this time away will be good for the Buffster. She'll thank you when she's ready."

* * *

 **New York City**

"Royally pissed pretty much covers it." Tony says as he paces the living room, while Pepper sits on the couch.  
Pepper just continues to stare shocked "So she—"  
Tony finally stops pacing and turns to Pepper "She was happy." He confirms as he comes to sit down next to her.  
Tony sighs "I can't help but think maybe she was with Joy or maybe she was somewhere kicking afterlife ass...like Valhalla or whatever it's called. But all I know is that she was free and now she back, back to a world that expects her to drop everything for everyone else."  
Pepper frowns as she realises why Tony seems to have a look of guilt covering his face "Tony, listen to me, don't feel guilty about being happy that's she's back. Yes everything she has been through is horrible but what you need to do now is make life as easy for her as possible. Take the week, just you and her. Remind her of how great this world can be."

* * *

 **The Next Day**

"Move it blondie!" Tony says as he barges into Buffy's room. The blonde who was currently hidden under neath her duvet peeks her head out merely to moan and pull the covers back over her head.  
"Hey!" Buffy exclaims as Tony pulls the covers off her, she stares at him shocked before glancing at the clock "6am? You really had to do this at 6am. Why aren't you passed out with a hangover? You never wake up before noon."  
Tony shrugs "Beats me. Now come on, we are going to go do something fun."  
Buffy scoffs "What's fun at 6am, I'll tell you...sleep!" She yells before placing her head underneath her pillow.  
Tony groans before speaking "I'm gonna kill Pepper for this." He whispers "Fine I'll just go have breakfast at Tiffany's alone."  
Buffy's head immediately shoots up and she leaps out of bed "I'm up! Getting ready!" She yells as she runs into the walkthrough closet.  
Tony chuckles at the young girls reaction before shaking his head in joy, that was the first time he had seen her smile since her resurrection. Maybe Pepper really was a genius after all.

* * *

 **A Week Later**

For the past week Tony had suffered through what felt like a thousand different tourists locations in New York, but the look of joy on Buffy's face made that pain lesson slightly.  
They had gone from the Empire State building to the statue of liberty and to Tony's personal favourite, Coney Island.  
Although he wasn't big on tourist-y stuff, doing it all with Buffy made it actually fun. Which surprised him. Plus the fact that she had even called him dumbass at one point showed he was making progress with her.

Right now though, Tony was in a panic. Pepper, Rhodey and Happy had all been begging to see Buffy since he had brought her home from Sunnydale. Pepper had managed to keep Rhodey and Happy at bay but now Buffy had been here two weeks and both men and even Pepper were edging to see the young slayer.  
Tony had reluctantly agreed but he was worried what Buffy's reaction would be, she clearly wasn't much of a people person anymore. Tony had to keep her from breaking the arms of a member of the press on Wednesday when they were at Central park. Plus she hadn't exactly been asking to see them. It was clear that she just wanted time alone.  
"She's gonna kill me." Tony says.  
 _"You really should have informed the young Ms Summers Stark before you invited over the others, Sir. She is still suffering from PTSD..."  
_ Tony cuts the A.I off "You can get all judge-y later alright Jar. If I live through this then feel free to judge me as much as you want."

At that moment the elevator doors open and in step the dreaded three.  
"So where's the Buff?" Rhodey asks his best friend.  
Tony hesitates "Okay, here's the thing...I sorta didn't tell her you guys where coming here." He rushes out the words hoping that he could quickly escape before they can process them.  
Pepper notices Tony backing away towards the door and glares at him "No you don't. Sit down now. Now Tony!"  
Tony moans before sitting down while Happy chuckles "Whipped."  
Tony narrows his eyes "Do you like your job?"  
Rhodey rolls his eyes "Ignore the baby." He tells Happy before turning on Tony "Where is the girl of the hour?"  
At that moment Buffy walks into the room holding a set of blueprints "Dad, you wanna explain what the hell the Buffster—" Buffy freezes and stops mid stride as she spots the people in the room.  
Rhodey, Pepper and Happy all stare at the blonde.

Buffy begins to feel very uncomfortable under their gaze, as they continue to stare at her "Okay I'm getting really weirded out here. Stop with the staring please. I was dead, now I'm not."  
Before Buffy can do anything else the three of them practically speed over to her and hug her tightly "Guys I need to breathe. Otherwise I'm gonna end up back in my coffin real soon."  
The three quickly pull away and smile at the young girl. The group of them then move to sit down and begin to talk.

* * *

After Pepper, Rhodey and Happy had left Tony heads down to Buffy's room to tell her he had ordered pizza. As he walks towards her door he freezes as the door is slightly ajar.  
"Buff?" He calls as he pushes the door open, he frowns as he doesn't see her "Jar is she in the gym?"  
 _"No, sir. I can't seem to find her on any of the cameras within the building."  
_ Tony's eyes widen, he walks into the room and immediately opens her closet, his heart plummets as he sees no clothes only hangers left.  
"No." He breaths, he moves to leave the room however he freezes as he spots a piece of paper on her bed.  
Slowly the billionaire walks over to the bed and picks up the paper.

 _'Dad_

 _Don't freak out okay, I'm fine. I promise. I haven't been kidnapped and I'm not being help hostage by some crazy supernatural creep. I just—I can't do this. Look I appreciate everything you've done but I'm not the girl I was. I can't be a Stark. I can't be around the press or Stark Industries or any of it. It's all too much. So I'm gonna go home to Sunnydale. I know you are most likely going to be reaching for one of your suits the second you put this letter down but don't. Clearly me being back means that the douchebag powers aren't done with me yet...but when I'm finished...I want to have a normal life for once, after everything that's happened, I know that I'm stuck as the slayer but I can still try to have something normal. As a Stark I can't. I'm sorry but I just need to go back to being a Summers. An unknown. No more wigs, no more crazy people from SHIELD trying to recruit me. Don't come to Sunnydale okay. I will contact you soon, but I just need time to readjust to being here, and I know you will try to convince me to come back to New York. But I can't._

 _Goodbye._

 _Love Buffy_

Tony drops the letter before sitting on the bed. He stays there for several minutes just staring at the wall, before finally reaching for his phone. He tries to call Buffy but he is immediately sent to voice mail. He sighs sadly before dialling Pepper.  
 _"Hello?"_ She answers.  
"She's gone." He says flatly "She's gone. And I don't think she's coming back this time."


	8. Chapter 8

**A Few Weeks Later**

Buffy sits in the coffee shop in Missouri waiting for Tony. The two had agreed to meet somewhere in between New York and Sunnydale and now here she was sipping a cup of cold coffee as she waits for her father to make an appearance. She just hoped he had listened to her and did not show up here in one of his suits.  
A few minutes later in steps the man in question, he looks around the small shop before finally his eyes settle on the young blonde. A small smile comes to his face as he spots her.

Buffy looks up and offers her father a small smile, as he approaches her she stands and gives him a quick hug "Hey dad." She says as she pulls away.  
Tony continues to smile at his daughter "Hey Buff."  
The two sit down and once Tony has his own cup of coffee the two face each over.  
"I'm sorry." Buffy tells him, causing Tony to frown in confusion.

Sensing his confusion she explains "For leaving the way I did. I guess with the press and then Pepper and everyone I freaked. I'm not the person they knew, kinda didn't want to ruin the illusion and—"  
"Buff. You don't need to apologise." He tells her "They all get it."  
Buffy smiles and the two sit there in silence for several minutes before finally Tony speaks "So what's happening in Sunnyhell?"  
Buffy chuckles "How did I know you were gonna ask that?"  
"Come on spill. I need the drama."  
Buffy shakes her head in amusement "You really need to get a hobby."  
"Nah." He says with a shrug "Now come on. You've officially banned me from Sunnydale, but that doesn't mean I can't know the stories."  
"Well, I tried to get a job."  
Tony frowns "You do realise you have access to your trust fund right."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "I know that. But normal people don't have 20 billion dollar trust funds. Plus knowing my luck all that money would go on fixing the house after I break it again and again. So I plan to save my billions for later."  
Tony shakes his head amused "What else?'  
"Well you know demons, vamps, ect. Plus Dawn went parking with a vamp."  
Tony scoffs "Like big sister like little sister."  
"Shut it." She tells him before going on "Oh and last week we all burst into song because of some musical red skinned demon."

Tony eyes widen at that "Wait what? You sang?" He then busts out into laughter.  
Buffy groans "Shut up. I'm not that bad. Plus Spike serenaded me which was weird enough."  
Tony again laughs "The douche bag serenaded you?" He shakes his head in amusement "Dude you need to meet someone more human. Or just join a nunnery."  
Buffy shakes her head "Seriously?"  
"Fine. Why don't we get Coulson to set you up." He jokes.  
Buffy laughs "Please he'd most probably set me up with Captain America. But you'd like that considering he's frozen."  
Tony shakes his head "Coulson wouldn't do that. Cap's all his. And thank god. I heard my dad talk about him enough, I don't need to hear about it from you."


	9. Chapter 9

**A Year and a Half Later – October 2011**

 _"Where's Agent Barton?" Fury asks Dr Selvig as he glances back at the tesseract before focusing on the doctor.  
The doctor scoffs "The Hawk?" The doctor gestures behind him "Up in his nest, as usual."  
Fury nods and reaches for his comms "Agent Barton, report."_

 _Barton and Fury walk through the lab as they continue to discuss this mission "I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things." Fury reminds him, clearly not pleased.  
"Well, I see better from a distance." Barton says simply.  
"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?"  
As the two approach the tesseract Barton shakes his head "No one's come and gone. And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IMs. If there was any tampering sir, it wasn't at this end."  
Fury's head immediately turns to face Barton, a look of slight confusion on his face, as though he thought he had misheard his agent "At this end?"  
Barton merely nods and gestures to the cube in front of them "Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides."  
Suddenly a the tesseract begins releasing small pulses of energy causing both men to back away._

 _The bursts continue causing the entire base to shake powerfully, and suddenly the tesseract releases a large burst of power and opens a portal on the other end of the room._

 _Everyone watches shocked however a mere second later the portal combusts sending a powerful shock wave around the room. Left in its place in a man.  
"Sir, please put down the spear." Fury requests as he spots the dangerous looking weapon in the man's hand.  
The man merely glances at the spear before sending a powerful blue burst of power towards them all._

 **Scotland**

Buffy shoots awake in her bed, immediately sitting up and grabbing the knife from underneath her pillow and prepares for an attack.  
She breaths heavily as her head swings around the room, looking for any sign of a threat. After several minutes she places the knife back under her pillow before taking a deep breath and running her fingers through her hair as she tries to calm herself.  
"I have got to stop having Pizza before bed." She says with a sigh before flopping back down on her bed.

As she re-adjusts herself to get back to her comfortable position she huffs "Stupid SHIELD, stupid Fury and Barton. Stop coming into my dreams." She huffs again, she had left SHIElD and everything agent or Stark based when she had left the US. She didn't need SHIELD invading her dreams, talking about stupid balls of energy which didn't exist.

Finally, the blonde finds herself drifting off again until a loud bang disrupts her peace.  
Buffy groans "What?!" She yells at the door.  
"Ma'am it's Renee. We found the nest."  
Buffy immediately swings herself out of the bed and strides over to the door.  
Buffy pulls the door open "How long?"  
"Mr Harris says they've been there for at least two months."  
Buffy smirks "Well I guess we better go give them a homecoming present."  
Renee smiles "I'll assemble the tactical team for this mission."  
"Tell them we are leaving asap."  
Renee nods before making her way down the hall.

* * *

They had been in Scotland for a few months now. Ever since Sunnydale, was destroyed. The world was different now. They had changed the world, Buffy just hadn't realised how much they really had. ' _It was all different now..._ ' She thought as she and her team climb up the abandoned building ' _there used to be one Slayer in the world. Eighteen hundred now, at least that's how many they had counted. 10 squads working with us made out of 500 Slayers'_ Buffy is pulled out of her thoughts as her feet land on the roof of the abandoned building.  
The blonde reaches for her comms "Field's vaped and we're on the roof."  
 _"Access should be right in front of you."_ Xander informs her, as he was currently at what Buffy called command central, running the operation.  
Buffy turns to the red-headed Slayer "Leah, open her up."

The Slayer nods and pulls the wooden plaques keeping the entrance hidden from their view.  
Once the entrance is revealed Buffy bends down to have a peek inside.  
One of the other Slayers, Satsu turns to Buffy "Can't see a thing Ma'am."  
"Can smell a thing." Buffy points out as she groans at the smell coming from the hole.  
Before any of the other Slayers can do anything Buffy leaps into the hole and goes plummeting downwards.

* * *

 **New York**

 _"I'm sorry the number you have reached had been discon—"_ Tony huffs in frustration before tossing the phone across the room clearly pissed off "Dammit!" He exclaims before turning back to his computer screen.  
 _"Apologies sir."_ Jarvis says _"But it seems as though you will not be able to contact Ms Summers Stark this way."  
_

Tony merely rolls his eyes "Yeah Yeah I know, she'll call me. Whatever." He mutters under his breath before staring at his computer. On the screen was the image of Sunnydale..or what was Sunnydale, it was now merely a crater in the middle of California.

Tony sighs Buffy had told him what had happened with the First and all of the other drama but when the town was destroyed he had panicked.

It had been three weeks before he finally heard from her, a fax message of all things ' _I'm alive' – love Buffy_.

Tony groans in frustration as he thinks about the situation his daughter was in, for the past 18 months they had had very little contact because the government was hunting her, so they were keeping a close eye on him to see if she would contact him.

He had expected her to keep her distance she had made that clear when she ran away from New York, but they were still close, their speaking only started to dissipate after this stupid government situation.  
He understood that she didn't want to deal with the Stark lifestyle anymore nor the constant invitations from Fury for her to join SHIELD, and he respected that and knew that's why she didn't come here after the Hellmouth went to hell. After everything she had been though he couldn't help but be sympathetic and understand where she was coming from but it still sucked that he never got to see her.

They had tried once after Sunnydale, but someone leaked it to the press and next thing they knew they were being chased around by the paparazzi. What's worse if that because of the press the government agencies hunting her found out she was in New York. After that she decided that disappearing for a while was what would be best, she was a target now, the number of people hunting her was too many to count.  
She had gone into hiding and the last time he heard a word from her was two months ago.

He was worried, panicked slightly. Well, more than slightly but he would never admit to anyone that inside he was freaking out like a little girl. He knew his girl could handle anything frown at her, he just wished that she would talk to him.

* * *

 **Scotland**

Buffy kicks down the door at the demons lair, the others had finally managed to catch up with her and were now standing beside her ready to attack.  
A small smile creeps onto Buffy's face as she sees the three large demons "Flank 'em now." She tells the girls before running at the demons.

"Thisss one looks tasssty." One of the demon's hisses as Buffy runs at it.  
Buffy merely smirks before sliding across the floor and kicking the demon in the leg causing it to tumble "Thanks, I work out."  
As the demon topples she elbows it in the face and moves to swing the scythe only to have the demon wrap its tail around her ankle and toss her across the room.  
"Ahh!" Buffy yells as she goes flailing through the air, the scythe slips from her grasp before she crashes into a large golden cross.  
An idea comes to Buffy she grabs the cross and re-approaches the demon as the other Slayers deal with the other demons.

The demon chuckles as Buffy approaches "Sssstupid human. I am no vampire. You think I fear the cross?"  
Buffy doesn't say anything she just leaps into the air and buries the cross in the demon's skull.  
As she yanks the cross out she stares at the body "Might wanna start."

Once all the demons were dead Leah approaches Buffy "That were a wee bit repulsive."  
Buffy shrugs as she places the cross on the ground "Went okay. 'Cept I feel a little weird about using a cross to kill someone."  
The red-headed Slayer shrugs "Yeh dinno much about religion. Do yeh?"  
Before Buffy can answer Satsu draws her attention "Ma'am what is that?" She asks the blonde as she stands over two of the demons' victims.  
As Buffy approaches Satsu points out the mark on one of the victim's chest "On his chest."

Buffy frowns as she stares at the symbol carved into the man's chest "This isn't recent. They were hostages for a time?" She asks herself before turning to the other slayer "Satsu, zoom in." Buffy then reaches for her comms "Xander send this to records. Copy Giles on it."  
 _"Gotchya."_

"What are you thinking?" One of the Slayers asks Buffy as the blonde retrieves the scythe. "Self-inflicted." Buffy tells them "I don't think these are random victims. I think these boys were looking for a fight."  
One of the newer Slayers who was still having trouble with her English nods in agreement "I tink ta forcefield was diers too."  
"So they wanted to be alone with these things?" Satsu asks "That doesn't add up."  
Buffy turns to the girls "This is all bad math. But that symbol...that's gonna clear it up. That's gonna tell us what those guys are part of."

* * *

 **SHIELD HEADQUARTERS**

"Just make sure he gets to the retreat, Coulson." Fury tells the agent over the phone.  
Fury pauses to listen to the agent, as he does he sighs, "No. The Captain's been awake a few weeks do not ask him to sign your cards...just do it, Coulson."  
Fury shakes his head in amusement as he hangs up the phone. He moves around his office and is about to sit down when Agent Romanoff enters the room "Sir."  
Fury arches an eyebrow "Summers was a bad influence on you. You used to knock."  
Natasha sighs "Sorry sir. But I just spoke to one of our hackers...they found her."  
Fury's eyes widen and he stands slightly straighter "Well?..."  
"She's in Scotland."  
"Scotland?" He asks confused. Of all the places he had expected to find the slayer, Scotland was on the very end of the list "Figured she'd be somewhere with a beach."  
Natasha chuckles slightly "We all did sir. That's why it took so long. Anyway, she seems to be running an organisation of Slayers."  
Fury nods in interest "Looks like her leadership skills have kicked in a bit more since last time." Fury pauses "Do we know how many she has?"  
Natasha shakes her head "At least 500 working with her that we know of. But they don't force the girls to stay. They help them, teach them how to control their strength then give them the choice to stay or return home. But Buffy still seems to be the strongest."  
Fury laughs "She's the last original line, of course, she's stronger. No offence to these other girls but they are just knockoffs. She will always be stronger, which is why we need her."  
"Sir, Buffy already made it clear that she didn't want to be apart of SHIELD, let alone the Avengers Initiative."  
Fury merely grins "Guess I'll just have to use my winning personality to win her over."  
Natasha groans "This is not going to end well."


	10. Chapter 10

**Scotland**

"So what's it all mean?" Buffy asks Xander as she takes a bite out of her sandwich.  
The two were currently in command central staring at the image of the carving that Satsu had found on one of the victims.  
"Nothing from the experts." Xander tells her "But I've been studying it for a while."  
"And?"  
"I think it's a frown turned upside down." He tells her, with a surprisingly straight face "And then turned upside down again." He continues.  
Buffy smiles, grinning slightly she turns to face her best friend "So you think it's a frown."  
"A guy with a monocle frowning."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "You're a terrible watcher."  
"I'm not a watcher."  
Buffy scoffs "Well clearly." She says as she stands and walks closer to the screen.  
Xander sighs, he stands and moves to stand beside her "Don't call me a watcher and you need to talk to Dawn."  
Buffy just continues to stare at the carving completely ignoring his comment about Dawn "I think it's a beautiful sunset."  
"Seriously, you gotta see Dawn." He says frustrated.  
Buffy pouts and turns to face him, crossing her arms "She's just gonna whine."  
"She's got a lot to whine about." He reminds her.  
Buffy shrugs "There's nothing I can do till we find Willow."  
Xander offers her a supportive smile "You could be her sister."  
"Yeah, yeah." She says with an eye roll.  
Xander shakes his head "You called your dad?"  
Buffy shakes her head, a look of disappointment covering her face "Waiting from tech for the heads up that it's clear. Don't want a repeat of what happened last time."  
Xander winces at the memory "Not a good day."

* * *

Buffy hated it when Xander was right. He was just so stupid when he was right. It actually reminded her of her dad, however unlike Xander her father, 'the genius' was more than often wrong but just also thought he was right, which was about 100 times worse.  
Buffy sighs as she stands outside the barn, she really did not want to go in there. Like majorly. She loved Dawn, she did, but lately, all Dawn does is talk about her problems, which Buffy will admit have gotten pretty bigger.  
Buffy shakes herself from her thoughts and slowly pushes the door open, as she does there sitting in the hay over 50 feet tall is Dawn, a massive pout, and look of self-pity on her face.  
Buffy offers a small smile, knowing that this situation was really awkward but she still tries "Thought I'd come see you."  
Dawn merely stares at her in disbelief "Cause Xander made you?"  
"What are you talking about?"  
Dawn ignores the question and asks her own "Has Willow called?"  
"I'm sure she will." Buffy assures her sister as she climbs to the top of the stare case so she doesn't have to strain her neck to look at her sister.

Buffy hesitates, she leans on the railing and looks at her not so little sister "But if you told me about it, I could at least get some of the apprentice witches—"  
"I'm not talking to you about it."  
"But you'll talk to Willow." Buffy argues as she sits down.  
"Willow, understands, she taught me a lot, especially when you were dead."  
"Taught you a lot about what?" Buffy asks curiously.

Dawn ignores the question and looks down "You act like it's my fault." She says gesturing to her giant-sized body.  
Buffy sighs and stands, she walks along the room as she continues to speak to her sister "You were dating a Thricewise."  
"Kenny never said he was a Thricewise!" Dawn yells causing Buffy to flinch slightly at the loudness of her voice.  
"I said he was a Thricewise." Buffy reminds her sister "Leah said he was a Thricewise. Giles said he was a Thricewise and he only ever met him on the phone!" She exclaims trying to use reason to actually get Dawn to acknowledge the fact that she had messed up and there was no one else to blame.  
Buffy shakes her head and heads to the back door, as she opens the door she glances back at Dawn "You should get out, run around on the moor."  
Dawn moans "It's frickin' freezing! Why do we have to be in Scotland?"  
"You don't have to be in Scotland. You have to be at Berkeley."  
"Believe me, as soon as I'm person-sized I'm out of here."

Buffy shakes her head "I've got things to do." She says before turning on her sister.  
Dawn turns and glares at her sister "I could swat you like a flea."  
Buffy doesn't turn around as she gives her comeback "Your butt looks big in those giant pants." She says before slamming the door shut behind her.

Buffy walks outside, completely annoyed. She and Dawn bickered all the time now, like freaking 12-year-olds. Ever since the world changed they hadn't gotten along.  
Buffy sighs and runs her fingers though her hair.  
She takes a deep breath soaking in the peaceful silence, it was one of the few things she liked about this place, it was quiet. She could actually find some form of peace when she was out here.  
However, Buffy's brief moment of peace was quickly ruined as Renee runs outside "Ma'am!" She yells.  
Buffy groans before forcing a smile on her face "Yes Renee?"  
"Mister Harris says you need to go to your office right away. Apparently, there is a man named Mr. Fury here to see you."  
Buffy's eyes widen before she groans in utter annoyance "You have got to be kidding me. First my dreams now my peace and quiet."

* * *

"I see your boy likes my eyepatch." Fury says as he hears Buffy enter her office, where he was currently sitting in her chair.  
Buffy smiles, "Two things: one,get out of my chair and two, what the hell are you doing here?!"  
Fury merely smiles and doesn't move from her chair "You know why I'm here."  
Buffy scoffs before moving towards her chair, she glares down at him, causing Fury to roll his eyes before he stands and moves to sit in the chair opposite her desk while Buffy takes her own seat.  
Fury waits till she is seated before he gets down to business "I want you in SHIELD."  
Buffy scoffs "Not a chance, I'm done. I don't want to be a part of your little super squad."  
Fury gestures to the castle they were currently in "You don't seem done."  
"I'm done being bossed around. I'm a big girl now and I won't let some government organisation control me or my girls."  
Fury waves her off "I'm not interested in the others. We both know you are stronger than all of them. Look I can help you protect them, but I want you apart of this team."  
Buffy watches the director closely, she contemplates what to do before shaking her "No. I'll say it one more time...I don't want to be on your little super squad."  
Fury sighs as he sees the look on her face, knowing that now was not the time, he sighs before standing "It was a pleasure Ms. Summers."  
Fury moves to head for the door however he pauses and glances back at her "You may not want my help now. But one day you will need it. When that day comes you're gonna owe me a favour."  
Buffy glares up at him "I seriously doubt that. Go back to SHIELD Fury."  
Fury merely smiles at the girl "I'll be seeing you soon Summers."

Buffy watches as he leaves the room an annoyed look on her face, she knew Fury and he didn't give up. Plus the way he spoke about her needing him worried her.  
She and her girls were in enough danger already, what could be so bad that she would have to turn to Fury? Buffy's train of though is cut short when her phone buzzes. She glances down a grin covering her face ' _all clear.'_ The message read.  
Buffy chuckles before dialing a familar number, he answered on the first ring "Hey Oldman."


	11. Chapter 11

**6 Months Later**

Russia

 _"_ _This is not how I wanted this evening to go."_ The man says to Natasha in Russian.  
Natasha who was currently tied to a chair glares at him and replies in Russian _"I know how you wanted this evening to go. Believe me, this is better."  
_ _"_ _Who are you working for? Lermentov, yes?"_ He asks as one of his guards approaches the red head, the guard grabs the back of her chair, which was currently two inches away from a gaping hole in the ground. The man tilts her chair, causing her feet to come off the ground. Her breathing picks up slightly but she keeps herself calm as she continues to listen to her interrogator _"Does he think we have to go through him to move our cargo?"  
_ The guard finally lowers her chair, Natasha glances at him before answering _"I thought General Solohob was in charge of the export business."  
_ Her interrogator merely chuckles at her response " _Solohob a bagman, a front. Your outdated information betrays you. The famous Black Widow and she turns out to be simply another pretty face."  
_ Natasha raises her eyebrow _"You really think I'm pretty?"  
_ One of the guards then approaches the agent and forces her mouth open, she glares at him while continuing to listen to their boss _"Tell Lermentov we don't need him to move tanks. Tell him he is out."_ He says as he walks towards the torture devices, as he picks one up he pauses " _Well.._.you may have to write it down." He finished in English.

At that moment a cell phone starts ringing, one of the guards realises that's it's his phone, he quickly answers it, only to frown and turn to his boss "It's for her."  
Their boss frowns before grabbing the phone " _You listen carefully—"  
_ The man is cut off as Coulson explains that they know exactly where they are and are prepared to kill them all and blow up the building if he doesn't pass the phone to Natasha.  
His eyes widen before he gives the phone to Natasha.  
Natasha sighs in frustration " _We need you to come in."_ Coulson tells her.  
"Are you kidding? I'm working."  
" _This takes precedence."  
_ "I'm in the middle of an interrogation. This moron is giving me everything. Look, you can't pull me out of this right now."  
 _"_ _Natasha...Barton's be compromised."  
_ Immediately Natasha stops, her eyes widen slightly before she focuses on her next task "Let me put you on hold."

She nods at the leader who walks over and takes the phone, however, she kicks him in the knee then headbutts him in the face sending him crashing to the ground.  
Natasha stands she kicks one of the guards in the chest knocking him down, she then ducks the blow the other sends at her before swinging the chair around to hit him in the back. As he drops Natasha rolls across the floor towards the other guard, who was currently still trying to stand.  
She uses the chair to knock his knees then slams on the wooden legs on his foot before headbutting him, as he stumbles Natasha swings the chair again, this time at his legs causing him to drop again.

The other guard stands and runs at her but she kicks him in the knee then does a spinning kick knocking him to his knees. She steps onto his back and flips through the air, as she lands on the chair it shatters beneath her. She quickly flips herself back up and then elbows one of the guards in the gut as he comes at her, she backhands him before jumping up and sending both of her feet into his chest, she starts to fall back, however, the moment her hands touch the ground she flips herself back up.  
Natasha runs at the guard, she jumps up and wraps her legs around his head, and does a side aerial, causing him to crash painfully to the ground.  
Natasha then merely grabs a metal chain and grabs their leader, she ties the chain to his ankle before tossing him into the hole.

She smiles to herself before grabbing her phone and her heels "Where's Barton now?" Natasha asks Coulson.  
 _"_ _We don't know."  
_ "But he's alive?"  
 _"_ _We think so. I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."  
_ Natasha pauses "Buffy? Coulson the girl likes me but she made it clear to Fury she would kick his ass if any of us turned up on her doorstep."  
Coulson chuckles _"I don't doubt that. But that's not who you are collecting. Fury thinks she needs a more...delicate touch... he's gonna go speak to her."  
_ Natasha stops in her tracks "Really? Fury is gonna talk to Buffy? You do realise last time he tried to recruit her, it didn't go very well."  
 _"_ _He seems to think he can convince her. I've got the other Stark. You get the big guy."_

* * *

 **Brooklyn, New York**

Fury watches from the shadows as Steve demolishes the punching bag in front of him when the bag goes flying across the room Steve merely moves to grab another before continuing his workout.  
"Trouble sleeping?" Fury asks as he steps into the gym.  
Steve merely goes back to hitting the bag "I slept for 70 years, sir. I think I've had my fill."  
"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world." Fury tells him as he moves closer to the Captain.  
Finally, Steve detaches himself from the bag and moves to unwrap his hands "When I went under the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost."  
"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some, very recently. One of the bigger ones was about 2 years ago. You ever hear of a town called Sunnydale?"  
Steve frowns in confusion "Yeah the town that is apparently now a crater."  
"A girl did that."  
"What?"  
Fury chuckles "She's like you Cap, she fights to protect the world. We screwed up, didn't realise how bad it had gotten and she was the one who had to fix our mistakes. I don't want to have the whole world end up as a damn crater."

Steve nods in understanding "You're here with a mission sir."  
"I am."  
"Trying to get me back in the world?"  
"Trying to save it." Fury says as he hands Steve the file.

Steve looks at the file hesitantly before taking it, when he spots the tesseract he sits down "HYDRA's secret weapon."  
"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think. The tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."  
Steve hands the file back to Fury "Who stole it from you?"  
"He called Loki." Fury informs him as he takes the file "He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."  
Steve scoffs and stands grabbing his bag "At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."  
Fury smiles and tosses him a different file "Read this and I bet you're wrong."  
Steve catches the file and opens it "That's just the basics." Fury informs him "There's a briefing kit waiting for you back at your apartment."  
Steve frowns as he looks at the photo of the young pretty blonde women, she couldn't be more than 23 years old "Buffy Summers?"  
"She's a special girl, cap. And you're gonna need to know about her world, before you meet her."

* * *

 **Stark Tower, New York**

"Mr Stark." Coulson addresses the billionaire who was currently sat having Champagne with Pepper.

Pepper smiles as she sees the agent "Phil! Come in."  
As she walks over to him Tony frowns "Phil? His first name is Agent."

Pepper ignores him and heads towards Coulson "Come on in. We're celebrating."

"Which is why he can't stay." Tony mutters before forcing a fake smile on his face.

Coulson merely hands him a file "We need you to look this over as soon as possible."

Tony stares at the file before glancing at Coulson "I don't like being handed things."

Pepper merely smiles and takes the file "That's fine, because I love to be handed things." She trades her champagne glass with Coulson before trading the file to Tony and taking his glass.

Tony rolls his eyes and focuses on Coulson "Offical consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday."

"This isn't a consultation." Coulson says simply.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asks "Which I know nothing about."

Tony grabs the file and walks over to his desk "I thought the Avengers Initiative had been scrapped. Plus I didn't even qualify and Buffy told Fury to take his super squad and shove it."

Coulson turns to the billionaire "This isn't about personality profiles anymore."

"Whatever. Ms Potts, got a second?"

Pepper quickly walks over. The two speak before he turns on the holograms showing all the candidates for the Avengers Initiative.

"I'm going to take the jet to D.C tonight."

"Tomorrow." Tony argues.

"You have homework. You have a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't."

Pepper smirks before leaning forward and whispering in his ear.

He grins and quickly agrees, "Fly safe."

"Work hard." She says before giving him a quick kiss.

Tony turns back to the holograms however he freezes when he spots a certain word, Slayer. Tony's head spins around to face Coulson "Why is she still in the file? She said no to Fury. She wants away from SHIELD and the government."

Coulson sighs, "This is a God we are facing Mr Stark. We need her now more than ever. She is the only person whose ever been able to defeat one."  
Tony glares at Coulson "You want my help, fine. My daughter died last time she went up against a God, I won't let that happen again. So let me make one thing clear tell Fury to stay the hell away from my daughter."

* * *

 **Scotland**

"The government is hunting us, demons, vampires are hunting us. Is there anything not hunting us!" Buffy exclaims in frustration.  
"Buff—" Xander tries but she just continues to vent.  
"I mean come on...go for the real threat. I'm used to the stupid supernatural-hating on us but now the government. I mean yeah Twilight is gone, but what happens when the rest of the government decides they were right and that Slayers need to be controlled and—"  
"Buffy!" Xander yells effectively cutting the Slayer off "Breath!" He yells as he shakes her from her word vomit.  
Buffy sighs "Sorry I was venting again, huh?"  
"A whole lot of venting." Xander sighs and places his hands on her shoulders "Look for once things are quiet. We will find a way to deal with the government but for now, relax."

* * *

Buffy swings the bo staff around before she flips through the air and does a triple tuck. She lands on her toes and immediately leaps into the air swinging the staff.  
She rolls on the floor and grabs a knife from her thigh and tosses it at the target. The knife goes through the target and lands five feet away leaving a gaping hole in the wooden dummy.

Breaking heavily the blonde stands she tosses the bo staff to the ground and moves to grab two long blades. As she lifts the blades from their place she sighs "I thought I made myself perfectly clear. It's been 6 months, how have you not processed this yet?"  
Fury chuckles as he walks into her training room "It's good to see you to Ms Summers. You know I think you made the right choice in changing your name. The name Summers is more feared in this world."  
Buffy rolls her eyes and swings the blades around as she continues to practice "What do you want Fury?"  
"The world needs saving."  
Buffy scoffs as she swings one of the blades around before tossing the other towards the wall "Again?"

Fury stares at the blade Buffy had tossed, only an inch of it was visible as the rest had been buried in the concrete "You're getting stronger."  
"Everyday." She says simply before throwing the other blade in the air, she flips backwards and catches the blade in her hand as it falls.  
She takes a deep breath before placing the blade back in its case, she then turns to face Fury.  
"I think you'll be fine." She tells him "Just a little end of the world stuff. That's nothing. I'm sure SHIELD can handle this."  
"We can't. We need a response team. The threat, this time, is bigger than any we have ever faced."  
Buffy again scoffs "Wow Deja-vu where have I heard that before? Oh yeah... 8 times in Sunnydale."

Fury sighs and turns to the young woman "I can help you with your government problem. I have enough authority to make it clear that you and your girls are off limits."  
Buffy eyes widen and she stares at him in disbelief "You're offering me a deal?"  
Fury nods, glad he had finally caught her attention "I help you..and you help me."  
Buffy sighs "Here's what I don't get, why do you need me, I mean come on I've heard about the rooster, I mean, Nat, Barton, the big green guy and dear old dad... pretty impressive. "  
"You're the only person whose ever defeated a God."

Buffy eyes widen and she freezes, her whole body going rigid "You have got to be kidding me."  
Fury shakes his head "Sadly no. We need you on this team."  
Buffy sighs and turns her back on Fury running her fingers through her hair as she contemplates what to do "You can make sure Slayers are protected? We are left to our own, no one touches us?"  
Fury nods "Yes Ma'am. I'll help you, and the moment we have Loki you are free to go."  
Buffy sighs in frustration she tries to think of a way out of this, but the world was in danger, and if this deal could protect her slayers then she had no over choice "I help you capture him, then I'm done. Is that understood?"  
Fury grins, surprising himself slightly that he had managed to convince her "Yes Ma'am. Plus we gotta have you there, you're the only person who can control your god damn father."  
"When do we leave?" She asks.  
Fury looks at his watch before tossing her a phone "Be ready the moment we have his location I'll call you in."


	12. Chapter 12

**A Few hours Later – S.H.I.E.L.D.** **Helicarrier**

"Stuttgard, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse." One of the agents informs them all once they had located Loki "He's not exactly hiding."  
Fury turns to Steve "Captain, you're up."  
As Steve leaves to go suit up Fury turns to Hill "I need you to go pick up our special guest."  
Hill's eyes widen "You got her."  
Fury nods "Scotland. Go fast. She'll be ready. The Captain's gonna need some help."  
Hill nods and quickly makes her way out the control room and to the fastest jet they had.

* * *

 **Scotland**

"So he can get the government off our backs?" Xander asks astonished, as Buffy finishes explaining the rest of what had happened during her meeting with Fury.  
Buffy nods as she continues to pace around her office.  
Xander sighs and rubs his forehead as he tries to absorb and process everything she had just told him "So basically he's blackmailing you."  
"Pretty much." Buffy pauses and turns to face her friend as she leans against her desk "But..."  
Xander raises an eyebrow "But what Buff?"  
"I agreed to help him."  
Xander's eyes widen and he stands, staring at her shocked "Buffy, what the hell?!"

Buffy sighs "I know, but Xander me helping him could save us from dealing with another twilight. We lost 15 girls during that battle with them..." Buffy takes a shaky breath as she forces the grief down "I won't let that happen again. These girls they're my family. They're your family."  
Xander rubs his head, he completely understood where she was coming from but the underlying hint of fear and worry for his best friend was eating at him "Buff, the last time you went up against a God—"  
"I died." She finishes as the words leave her, she automatically starts rubbing her knuckles where the scars from the night she was resurrected were still visible. The blonde glanced down at her knuckles before she forces herself to look away and shoves back down the memories of that night threatening to break free. Buffy takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she looks directly into Xander's eye "Xander we both know that if you were in my boat, you would do the exact same thing."  
Xander looks at her sadly before hugging her tightly.

Buffy slightly stunned hugs him back just as tightly "Take care of the girls. And Dawn."  
Xander chuckles "Yeah I'll look after previous Giant now Centaur Dawn."  
Buffy laughs at that only to freeze at Xander's next words "Promise me. You'll be careful."  
Buffy pulls away and offers him a small smile "I will. Plus I'm gonna be on superhero team thing-y. Not just me."  
Xander smile before he realizes something "What about your dad?"

Buffy sighs and moves to lean against the desk again "Oh he's gonna pissed. I promised him I'd stay safe out of SHIELD's grasp. But I don't have a choice here."  
"Buffy, I—"

Before Xander can finish his question Buffy's phone starts ringing, Buffy's eyes widen as she realizes it's not her phone but the phone Fury gave her.

"Avengers Assesmble." Xander mutters as he sees the look on her face.

Buffy rolls her eyes "That would be funny but you've used that joke before right before I went up against the vamp bitch Sunday in college."

Xander pouts "Dammit. Stupid Xander."

Buffy shakes her head in amusement as Xander tries to come up with more Avengers jokes before finally, she answers the phone "Hello Furry man."

Buffy hears Fury chuckle on the other end of the phone _"Time to suit up, Miss Summers. We found Loki. Sent the god old captain after—"_

Buffy frowns in confusion "Wait Captain—as in Steve Rogers Captain, I thought he was all frozen and stuff." Buffy looks over at Xander who had frozen at the sound of Steve Rodgers name and now looked like an excited child.

 _"Not anymore. I've sent Agent Hill to come and collect you on her way to Germany. It's time to go to war."_

"Wait." Buffy says "I thought you were gonna come and get me if you think I'm just gonna get in a car with one your lackeys you are so dead wrong. Send Nat."

Fury sighs knowing he should have expected this type of reaction from her _"Like you, I have a headquarters to run. And Agent Romanoff is currently with Captain Rogers."_

Buffy sighs "Fine. But you so owe me and if this woman irritates me I'm so gonna kick your ass. Plus if you're tricking me, you know—"

 _"You'll kick me ass got it. Now look out the window your rides here. See you soon Slayer."_

Before Buffy can get another word in Fury hangs up the phone, the blonde sighs before quickly looking out the window to see a SHIELD jet land on the moor.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Xander steps up behind Buffy and takes a peek at the jet before whistling, "Can't deny the man travels in style."

Buffy rolls her eyes "Guess there's just one thing I need to do now. Bye Xander." Buffy gives her friend another hug before heading for the door.

"Buffy!" Xander calls making her pause before turning to him "Could you get Captain America to sign my trading cards? Pretty Please?"

Buffy stares at him baffled before merely walking out the room astonished. The blonde heads down the hall towards her room. She quickly puts on her gear from the mission earlier groaning at the smell of demon blonde. She ignores the smell best she can before she quickly grabs her rucksack stuffing a few things inside before approaching the wooden closet in the back of the room.

Slowly she pulls the double doors open and smiles as the red glow is revealed.  
She smiles at the Scythe before grasping it in her hand and heading out the door.

* * *

"Ms. Summers. I'm Agent Maria Hill. Director Fury sent me." Hill says as Buffy approaches her.  
Buffy nods "Already know. I had a talk with your boss. We ready?"  
Hill smiles before leading the blonde onto the jet.  
As they step inside Buffy freezes and whistles "Wow. Very...agent-y." She mutters as Maria moves towards the controls.  
"I suggest you hold on." Hill says before suddenly the jet zooms up causing Buffy to drop to the ground and land painfully with a 'thump.'

Buffy groans before standing and approaching Hill "Thanks for the warning." She says sarcastically.  
Hill glances at the slayer "You may want this." She says before putting the plane onto autopilot and standing, she head towards the back of the plane and reaches into a small draw.  
Buffy frowns in confusion before finally Hill tosses her a long black wig with a fringe and a pair of black sunglasses.  
"They're yours." Hill assures her "Didn't have time to grab the suit, figured those would do for now."  
Buffy frowns "How did you-  
Hill sighs "Well stole them from Stark. You're in hiding Miss Summers, but don't forget you are Tony Stark's daughter. You're the world's sweetheart, that's why you wore the glasses and wig for all those years.  
Buffy sighs before giving the agent a nod.  
Hill offers her a small smile before moving back to the controls.

Buffy stands there and stares at the wig in her hands. The last time she had worn this she had been a completely different person,it was another time, hell another world altogether.  
Buffy huffs to herself, she had hung up her vigilante days the day she left New York, she was supposed to be living her life. A normal life but then Dark Willow and the First had changed all that. Then all the Slayers were called, it was that moment that Buffy knew her life would never be normal but in that moment she had accepted that because she knew for once she wouldn't be the only one. The only girl in the world.  
She built herself a new life one she was happy with, but now here she was again. Right back where she started.  
Buffy moves and stares at herself in the glass of the window. She closes her eyes and slips on the wig before placing on her glasses.  
Finally, she opens her eyes and sighs "Hello, again."


	13. Chapter 13

**Stuttgard, Germany**

Loki watches with glee as the crowd kneels at his feet "Is not this simpler?" He says as he walks through the centre of the crowd "Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."  
At that moment a man, with grey hair, probably around his mid 50's stands and stares at Loki defiantly "Not to men like you."  
Loki merely smiles at the man "There are no men like me."  
"There are always men like you."

Loki smiles before raising his spear, as he aims it at the man it makes a humming noise "Let him be an example." He says before sending a power blast towards the man however just before it can kill him Steve Rogers lands right in front of the man and blocks the burst of energy with his shield. The blast bounces off the shield and flies straight back at Loki knocking the god off his feet.  
Steve stands up straight and slowly approaches Loki "You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ending up disagreeing."  
Loki stands and stares at Steve clearly unimpressed "The soldier. The man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time." As the words leave his lips Natasha who is currently piloting a SHIELD jet moves the jet into view and aims all the guns at Loki _"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."_ She warns only to have to react quickly as Loki sends a burst of energy at the jet.  
Steve runs at Loki sending a punch to his face, Loki glares at him before swinging the spear at Cap who quickly blocks it with his shield. Only to have Loki jab him in the gut with the spear sending him crashing to the ground.  
Steve rolls to his knees and stares at the god before throwing the shield at him but Loki merely blocks it sending it flying.  
Cap quickly stands and moves to fight hand to hand, he blocks every throw the god throws at him until Loki hits him in the back sending him flying backwards.

* * *

"We're here." Hill tells Buffy as they appear about 30 feet above the empty town square where Captain America and Loki were currently battling.  
Buffy frowns as she looks down "I'm guessing you don't plan on flying down."  
"Sorry I was instructed to drop you off and head back to headquarters as soon as possible."  
Buffy turns to her astonished "How am I supposed to get back?"  
Hill shrugs "Catch a ride with Romanoff." She suggests before opening the hanger doors.

Buffy peeks down below them and watches as Cap again gets thrown around by Loki she whistles "That looks like fun."  
Buffy reaches into her pocket and grabs her phone before she plugs in her headphones "What are you doing?" Hill asks her shocked, she hadn't seen anything in Buffy's file that would suggest she listened to music while fighting.  
Buffy shrugs "Improvising. Music helps with that." She says before switching up 'Break Stuff' by Limp Bizkit. She gives Hill a wave before jumping out of the plane.

Steve grunts in pain as Loki once again tosses him away causing him to land painfully on the concrete ground.  
However suddenly seemingly out of nowhere a young woman lands right behind Loki and grabs him by the back of the neck before tossing him away.  
Steve stares in shock at the dark haired woman who was currently wearing sunglasses and for some reason seemed to be listening to music.

Loki much like the captain stares astonished at the young woman who merely grins "Mind if I cut in?" She asks as she pulls the scythe from its holder and swings it as she approaches Loki "Guess I already did. Sorry my manners are all over the place."  
Loki stands and looks at the girl curiously "Now who are you, little girl."  
Buffy smiles "I'm Buffy. The vampire slayer. And I will be kicking your ass today." She says before swinging her leg out sending Loki skidding backwards.  
He growls and approaches her, he swings the spear but she blocks it with the scythe giving Loki a better look at it. As he does his eyes widen "That's not possible."  
Buffy shrugs before heading butting him and doing a cartwheel, effectively kicking him in the face as she does. "I live the impossible." She says before swinging the scythe. Loki ducks the blow only to have Buffy jab him in the face with the blunt side of the axe, he growls and grabs her tossing her right at the Captain.

She lands on top of Steve and looks down at him startled, she quickly pulls out her headphones "Sorry."  
"No problem ma'am." He says as he stands, helping her up in the process "I'd say you could use some help."  
Buffy grins "Have at it. If he had knocked my shield away I'd be pretty pissed too."

Steve chuckles before grabbing the shield, he launches it at Loki, effectively battering him in the chest and before Loki has a chance to breathe Buffy runs at him, she jumps up and wraps her legs around his head before twisting into a side aerial.  
As Loki crashes to the ground Buffy walks over and swings the scythe down at him but Loki manages to raises his spear just quickly enough to block the deadly blow.  
He pushes the scythe away and moves to stand but before he can do anything the sound of AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill rains through the air and suddenly a powerful burst of energy sends Loki flying backwards.  
Both Steve and Buffy turn and immediately Buffy groans "Bad, bad day."

Tony who was crouched on the floor stands and immediately points all his guns at Loki, however, he freezes as he spots the dark haired Buffy.  
Buffy chuckles nervously "Hi. You—You know I had that handled right."  
She quickly walks to Loki and kicking him in the face, knocking him unconscious causing the helmet and protecting clothing he was wearing to suddenly disappear.

Buffy turns back around to see Steve now standing with Tony "Mr Stark." Steve greets.  
"Captain." Tony says in the same tone before turning to Buffy "Good to see you again."  
Steve frowns "You too know each other?"  
"Too well." Buffy mumbles before throwing Loki over her shoulder and walking over to Steve "So where's the red head?"

* * *

"Nat!" Buffy says excitedly as she climbs onto the jet, dumping Loki's body on one of the chairs, Buffy then heads towards the red head "It's good to see you."  
Natasha smiles "You too Buff. All though good luck with what comes next."  
Buffy groans and turns to face her father as him and the Captain enter the jet.

As Nat puts the jet into flight Steve turns to her "Fury didn't say anything about a young dark haired woman joining us for this mission. What's going on here? Who is she?"  
Natasha smiles before glancing back at Buffy who was currently refusing to look at her father.  
Buffy turns to Steve "I'm Buffy." She says as she pulls off her wig and sunglasses revealing her green eyes and honey colored hair. Steve's eyes go wide "You're Buffy Summers."  
"Reporting for duty." She says with a smile before reluctantly turning to her father who had been staring daggers at the back of hair head.  
Nat smirks and turns to Steve "Think bout it Cap, she's strong, blonde, loves to sacrifice herself to save the world. She's the female version of you."  
"Shut it." Tony says before turning back to his daughter and staring at her astonished.

Buffy puts on her sweetest smile and looks up at her father "Hi...so... how you been?"  
Tony stares at her unamused "Dammit, Buffy! You promised me that -"  
"That I wouldn't help SHIELD." She finishes only to have him glare at her, she sighs "Look I didn't have a choice, I'm sorry."  
Tony crosses his arms, he was pissed, he wanted her out of this, she was in constant danger all the time but this was different, the last time she had gone up against a God it almost destroyed him. He couldn't let history repeat itself. "You should have called me."  
Buffy shrugs "I was a bit busy. You know saving the world, helping the new Slayers yadadada..."  
"Buffy, last time you went up against a God you died! You're going home, right now! And when did you go back to using Summers?!" He yells angrily.

Steve just continues to stare confused.

Buffy sighs "I am 23 years old! You can't just send me to my room like when I was 15! And hell, I was the one that was doing that to you. Oh and the Summers thing happened after Sunnydale went kapow." Buffy says as she makes an explosion gesture with her hands.  
Tony sighs and rubs his head in frustration "What happened to 'I hate government toolbags they're lame' and all that jazz."  
Buffy frowns at his impression of her voice "I don't sound like that." She mumbles before just shaking her head "Look Fury's sort of Blackmailing me. Which that plus the end of the world...again...kinda explains why I'm not still in Scotland."  
Tony stares at her astonished before a look of complete disbelief and rage crosses his face "He's blackmailing you, what does he have—" Tony freezes "Wait you're living in Scotland? You hate the cold. And all things to do with it." 

Buffy shrugs "It's complicated but we live in a spacious place and trust me after Dawn was turned into a giant it made things—"  
"Dawn's a giant?!" Tony yells shocked "What-how—when—what? Why would you leave that out! That's awesome!"  
"Well, she's not anymore." Buffy says with a small shrug "She's a centaur now but that's beside the point. Let just get Mr. Stab happy back to Fury so I can get gone. Cause once's he's in his ball and chain I'm allowed to leave."

Tony just continues to stare at the wall as Buffy moves away. He was stunned to complete silence, but he hid the joy that was there beneath the surface that for once she wouldn't be putting herself in danger.

Natasha chuckles at his silence "Never thought I would see that."  
Buffy turns to Steve "Sorry bout that."  
Steve chuckles "Like you said—complicated." Buffy smiles "But I've never seen anyone quiet a Stark so quickly, you really are a hero."  
Buffy chuckles at that before turning to Natasha "What's happening now?"  
"Fury wants us to bring him back to the base right away." She says gesturing to Loki.  
Buffy nods "So once Fury has him our deal is done right?"  
"You'll have to ask him, Buff."  
Buffy sighs in frustration and glanced back at Loki who was currently slowly starting to stir back to a state of consciousness.

"I don't like it." Steve says as he thinks back to the fight.  
"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asks before glancing at Buffy who gives him a narrowed look making it clear that if he brought up their conversation again he was going to end up on the end of that new weapon of hers.  
"I don't remember it being that easy."  
Buffy nods in agreement "He's right. The guy should have the strength of Glory yet he was fighting well...kind of like you." She says gesturing to Tony who stares at her offended.

Tony merely tries to get back to the conversation and shrugs "Well you were dead and you..." He says turning to Steve "...you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, Pilates?"  
Steve merely frowns in confusion "What?"  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Ignore him. He's just gonna take the piss out of you because you won't understanding when he's insulting you using newer knowledge. Give it time, or just hit him. It's what I do."

Steve can't help but smile at the blonde before turning back to Tony the smile falling from his face "Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."  
"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony says simply.  
Buffy is about to cut in when the flash of lightning fills the jet and loud sound of thunder rumbles through the jet.

Buffy immediately clutches the scythe "Something's not right."  
"Look who's the smart one." Loki says, now fully awake and leering at the blonde.  
Buffy looks at him disgusted "What are you looking at?"  
He merely continues to leer at her "I like my women strong."  
Buffy looks at his, rage filling her vision and straight away she punches him in the face.  
Buffy moves away from him and turns to Natasha "What's happening?"  
Natasha shrugs "I don't know where this is coming from."

Suddenly another rumble of lightning goes through the jet, Steve turns to Loki who was suddenly looking rather anxious "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?"  
Buffy chuckles "He probably just wishes he had a thunder buddy."  
Tony chuckles while Steve just frowns in confusion "It's a song from a film about a bear that came to life and does drugs and stuff but about that another time—" She rushes out the statement hoping to end the conversation.  
"I don't need whatever this thunder buddy is." Loki says "But I'm not overly fond of what follows."  
Suddenly the jet shakes as something lands on the roof, Buffy raises the scythe "Not good."

The jet shakes again and Tony puts on his mask before opening the hanger doors.  
Steve turns astonished "What are you doing?"  
But before Tony can say anything Thor lands on the jet, Tony raises his hand but Thor swings the hammer at him sending him crashing down.  
As Buffy clutches onto the wall she looks over to see Thor grab Loki and leap out of the plane "No!" She yells.

She quickly places her scythe back in its holder "Hey!" She yells "That's my prisoner! I got him first! Get your own!" She says before leaping out of the plane.

Steve watches horrified before turning to Natasha "Did she just jump without a parachute?"  
"Doesn't surprise me." Natasha says before glances at Tony "Another Asgardian?"  
Steve turns to Tony "That guy's friendly?"  
"Doesn't matter." Tony tells him "Buffy can handle them but if she doesn't catch up in time and he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."  
"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve argues at Tony heads towards the exit.  
"I have a plan. Much similar to the blonde's. Attack." He says before flying out into the night sky.


	14. Chapter 14

Buffy lands painfully on the top of a tall hill "Ow." She moans in pain before slowly standing. She looks down to see her leg bleeding "Next time jump with a parachute." She tells herself "Think Buffy. Think Buffy."  
Buffy moves to start searching for Loki and Thor however she freezes as she hears voices just bellow her. "I've seen worlds you've never heard about!" A voice yells.  
Buffy immediately drops to the ground, she crawls to the hill top and spots Loki and Thor slowly she stands back up and winces at the thought of what she was about to do."Oh, this is gonna hurt." She says before jumping down and landing in-between the brothers.  
Thor stares at the young woman shocked "What—"  
Buffy smiles "Sorry. You took my prisoner. Kinda need him." She says before tackling Thor causing them both to go tumbling down the mountain before landing in the forest.

Thor and Buffy both stand, immediately raising their weapons "You have no understanding of this!"  
Buffy arches an eyebrow "Look whatever, I don't give a shiny robot's behind about your drama right now. Let's just talk for a second."  
Thor watches the young woman carefully "What do you wish to—"  
Suddenly the god is thrown backwards by a powerful burst of energy, Buffy winces at the sight before turning just as Tony lands next to her.  
Tony shrugs "Punch first ask questions later."  
Buffy glares at him before grabbing the scythe "I swear—"

Buffy freezes as she notices Thor stand, her eyes widen "Okay, I think you pissed him off."  
Thor turns on Tony "You have no idea what you're dealing with."  
"Ahh." Tony says as he looks around "Shakespeare in the Park? Doth Mother know you wear-eth her drapes?"  
Buffy hits Tony on the arm "Shut up."  
"This is beyond you both." Thor tells them "Loki will face Asgardian justice."  
Buffy sighs "Look, I made a deal. Kinda don't wanna stick around. Look can I just borrow him for a few hours then you take him home and throw away the key."  
Thor stares at her as though she was insane while Tony merely rolls his eyes and steps in front of Buffy "Ignore her, the blonde is getting to her. Look he gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then, stay out of the way." He says as he lowers his mask back down.  
Tony turns on him "Tourist." He mutters.

Buffy's eyes widen as Thor launches the Hammer at Tony she quickly leaps and crashes into Tony knocking him away.

"This is why you are not allowed to talk." Buffy says as she stands "Now let the adults handle this."

Tony stands and towers over her "Adults?! You're like 17."

"Dad, I'm 23!"

Buffy groans in annoyance before pushing Tony backwards into a nearby tree "Stay." She orders, when he rufuses and moves to stand she crosses her arms pointing at her face "Resolve face."

Tony gulps before pouting like a child "Fine. Buzzkill."

Buffy smiles in succession before turning to Thor just in time to watch as the hammer flies back to him.

She sighs "Look I'm not gonna fight you. There's no point."

Thor watches her intently as though trying to see if she was bluffing however it's then he spots the Scythe in her hands, his eyes widen "That's—"

Before he can finish he's sentence a sudden burst of energy hits Thor sending him rolling across the floor.

Buffy's eyes widen and she spins her head around to her father "Dad!" She says as she approaches him.

"I didn't mean to!" He argues "It was an accident."

"What like my 4th grade hamster Snowball?" She asks sarcastically.

"Hey that was an accident, I didn't mean to shoot him off in a rocket."

Buffy turns back around to see Thor conjuring a bolt of lighting, her eyes widen "Shit!" She says before flipping backwards, away from Tony just as the lighning hits him.

Tony grunts "What happened to the Buffy that protected me?!"

"You brought this on yourself." She says simply "Time I stop fixing your mistakes. Don't worry, still Love you. Good luck."

Buffy watches disgusted as the two men try to beat the crap out of each other however after watching them throw each other around the forest for several minutes she starts to get fed up.

She glances up as she hears someone land next to her "Heyya Cap."

"Ms Summers." He address before glancing at the two men currently fighting "Clearly I missed something."

"Other than Tony being arrogant not much. This is what happens when he's ego gets in the way. So...all the time."

Buffy rolls her eyes at the display below them and Steve throws the shield at the two of them, bouncing off both of them before coming back to his hands.

Buffy stares at the shield "It's like a giant gravity-defying frisby." She says before her and the captain approach the two idiots.

"You idiots done. God you're worse than those creepy toys that came to life and attacked us in Tokyo."

Everyone turns to her confused but she shrugs "Nevermind."

"How much stuff have I missed?" Tony asks him interest peaked.

"A lot." She says simply

Steve shakes his head before turning to the other men "Now, I don't know what you plan in doing here." He says to Thor.

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes." He tells them all.

Buffy glares at Tony "Told you I was getting through to him. Maybe if your ego—"

"Buff, what did you—"

"Stop it both of you!" Steve yells before turning back to Thor "Prove it. Put the hammer down."

Tony turns to the captain "Yeah...no. Bad call. He loves his hammer." Thor growls and swings the hammer out knocking Tony away before glaring at Steve "You want me to put the hammer down?!"

Suddenly Thor leaps into the air and raises the hammer, "Oh shit!" Buffy yells and before she can do anything the hammer collides with cap's shield, sending a loud burst of engery across the entire forest sending all of the flying backwards.

Slowly all of them stands, as she stands Buffy clicks her neck "Ow." She mutters before facing the men.

Steve glances at Thor "Are we done, here?"


	15. Chapter 15

"I think it's about the mechanics." Banner says as they discuss everything in the conference room.  
At the moment Buffy walks in still in her gear, Scythe attached to her side, hair now flowing down just past her shoulders "Where's Fury?" She asks as she enters the room.  
"Currently with our prisoner." Banner informs her before his eyes widen as he realises who she is "You're..."  
"Buffy Summers." She says with a narrowed gaze making it clear he wasn't to continue, she'd rather everyone who wasn't aware of who she was, stayed that way. She couldn't trust these people.  
Steve turns to Buffy "You've missed..."  
"I haven't." She says simply "I've got good hearing." She tapping her ear "So let me get this straight, crazy pants has an alien army, end of the world blablala. Oh and he's adopted." Buffy glances over at Nat "Lucky bastard" She says causing Natasha to laugh.

At that moment in walks Tony currently speaking with Coulson "Irreduim. As Doctor Banner was saying means that the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD."  
Buffy eyes widen "Oh dammit." She says as she remembers her dream she had 6 months ago "Gotta pay more attention to future dream things."  
Tony chuckles "Told you."  
Buffy glares at him "No. You told me that I was crazy. But then whose dream about you getting ur ass kicked by Rhodey came true...oh yeah mine."  
Tony merely shrugs and approaches Fury's computers "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long, as Loki wants."  
Buffy watches with amusement as Tony realises that he can't move the holograms on the screens "How does Fury even see these?" He asks agent Hill.  
"He turns."  
"Sounds exhausting." He says before continuing "The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube."  
Buffy turns to Natasha "Barton?"  
Natasha nods causing Buffy to sigh.  
Tony looks at them all annoyed "Am I the only one who did the reading?"  
Buffy raises her hand "In my defence, I was supposed to be on a different mission today. Only found out about this last night. And I choose sleep over reading every time."

As Banner and Tony begin talking about the science of everything Buffy zones out until Fury enters "Dr Banner is only here to Track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." He says to Tony.  
Buffy quickly turns to Fury "Speaking of...I'm done. Can I go now?"  
Tony raises his hand "All for that. Your little deal is the only reason you're not boat's up Fury."  
Fury sighs at the two Starks' displays before turning to Buffy, he was about to object but she intervenes "We had a deal. I help you get Loki then I'm gone. You promised to make sure the government wouldn't find my Slayers if I helped you get Loki. I held up my end of the bargain."  
"That was before we knew about this army."  
Buffy sighs and throws her arms up in frustration "I have dealt with an army before with 15 people at my side against thousands. I'm sure you'll be fine. Now I'm out of here." Buffy gives him a wave before she moves to the door.  
"This isn't just about those girls anymore, Ms Summers." Fury says making her pause "You've died twice saving the world, if it's destroyed doesn't that make it all pointless."  
Buffy glares at him "I've been stabbed, shot, had almost every ounce of blood drained from my body plus been run through with a sword. I can't do another war. I just did one a few weeks ago."  
"You don't have a choice."  
Buffy groans "Fine. But you owe me."  
Fury chuckles "I'll buy you a new pair of shoes."  
Buffy's eyes light up "Good. Cause mine are definitely going to be ruined. Jimmy Choos are expensive."  
Fury chuckles, "Like I said you're the only one that can control your father."  
"Hey!" Tony, who was clearly not happy about the turn of events, exclaims "I resent that."  
Steve's eyes widen in shock and he turns to Buffy "You're his—his daughter?"  
Buffy groans "No—well yeah. Sort of."  
Steve glances in between them "I don't see it. You're not Stark like."  
Buffy smiles "Thank you. I try very hard at that."

Buffy then turns to Tony who was currently glaring at her "What now?" She asks annoyed.  
Tony frowns "Being a Stark is awesome."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "I changed my name to Summers for a reason dumbass."  
Tony rolls his eyes at her "Oh yeah cause life as a Summers is so great, I mean come on even your toys are outdated." He says referring to her scythe.  
"You're just pissed because it's better than anything you could have made."  
"Is not."  
"Is too."  
"Is not."  
"Children enough!" Fury yells getting fed up.

Buffy huffs before frowning as she remembers Loki's reaction to the scythe, she quickly turns to Thor "You know what this is don't you? That's why Loki looked all white eyes rabbit-y when he saw it."  
Thor glances at the Scythe before nodding "My father told us stories as a child. In one of those stories was a weapon much like that. It was said that it was one of the only weapons on earth that could cause damage to an Asgardian and was said to be wielded by a true warrior. One who would pull it from its stone."  
Buffy grins "Cool, like King Arthur."  
Tony rolls his eyes, Buffy scoffs "Please you're just jealous I had my very own King Arthur moment."  
Tony huffs before turning back to Fury "Can we get back to Loki please?"  
Buffy shrugs and turns to Thor "Yeah, no offence but you're brother is crazier than Glory and that's saying something."  
Thor frowns "Glorificious?"  
"Yeah."  
Thor's eyes widen "She was released from her shell?"  
Buffy nods and a dark look crosses her face "Yeah, she caused a lot of damage trying to get home. We dealt with her, though. All's good."  
Tony sighs and turns to Banner "Shall we play?"  
"This way, sir." Banner says leading tony towards the lab.

* * *

Buffy walks into the lab where Banner and her father were currently talking "You'd love it. It's candy land." Buffy hears Tony say, immediately rolling her eyes as she knew he was talking about the tower "Yeah, no it's not." Buffy says simply as she walks in and jumps up to sit on one of the tables.  
Tony rolls his eyes "You only stayed for two weeks you don't get to comment."  
Banner chuckles at the father-daughter banter before turning to Tony "Thanks, but the last time I was in New Work, I kind of broke Harlem"  
Buffy shrugs "I blew up my old high school and was partially responsible for turning an entire town into a crater, trust me you'll fit in just fine."  
Tony nods in agreement "See. Look I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises."  
Buffy rolls her eyes as she sharpens the axe on the scythe, "He may be my dad, but don't trust him. His curiosity his like a bad ex-boyfriend."  
"Ow!"  
Buffy turns around to see Banner looking at Tony in shock, her eyes widen and she jumps off the table and grabs her father's hand before ripping the metal poll he had poked Banner with.  
"What the hell is a matter with you?!"  
Tony just looks over her shoulder at Banner "Nothing?"  
"Are you nuts?" Steve asks as he enters the room.  
"We've already covered that." She says as she grabs Tony and yanks him away from Banner "Watch the arm Buff. I kinda need it. "  
Buffy glares at him "Were you born this big a pain in the ass?"  
"Debatable. You weren't exactly easy you know. Especially, when you were little miss cheerleader and homecoming queen." Tony says with a shrug before turning back to Banner "You really do have a lid on it, don't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, a huge bag of weed?" Tony thinks for a moment and then his eyes brighten as though a light has just gone off in his head, he turns to Buffy "After you came back, what did you do to stop going all murder-y crazy?"  
Buffy shrugs "Stayed the hell away from you for one."  
"Seriously?"  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Trust me. You don't want to know." Buffy gives him a narrowed looks causing Tony's eyes to widen "Ew." He moans before shaking himself "Think peaceful thoughts."  
Steve just stares at the billionaire completely unamused "Is everything a joke to you?"  
"Funny things are."  
"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence, Doc."

Banner stutters slightly as he continues to work "It's all right, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."  
Tony smiles "You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut."  
Buffy just rolls her eyes "You're an idiot." She tells her father.  
Tony looks at her closely "You know when you roll your eyes...which is rather often by the way...you look at lot like your mom. She used to do that to me a lot."  
"Smart woman." She says simply "Can you actually focus for once. I'd rather like to avoid facing another army of thousands of supernatural creatures. So here's an idea do your job so I can get out of here. Like you wanted in the first place. You know the whole 'Keep my daughter out of this' line."  
Tony chuckles and kisses his daughter on the top of her head as he walks past her "Oh I am focusing. You said that Fury blackmailed you right?"  
Buffy shrugs "Yeah, so what?"  
"Well, that got me thinking. Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables. Come on Buff, you know this."  
Buffy sighs as Steve looks at her father his interest peaked slightly "You think Fury's hiding something?"  
"He's a spy." Tony points out "Captain, he's 'the' spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony then pops a blueberry in his mouth.  
Buffy frowns at that, confused as to where the bag had appeared from "Have you been hiding food again? I thought we talked about this?"  
Tony shrugs "I'm a hungry man, Buff. Just be happy I'm not hiding doughnuts anymore."  
Buffy shakes as she remembers finding a bag of three-week-old mouldy doughnuts "Yuck." She mutters.

Buffy turns to see Banner now staring at Tony "Um...I just want to finish my work here, and..."  
"Doctor?" Steve asks curiously.  
Banner hesitates and slowly removes his glasses, which Buffy can't help but be reminded by Giles as he does.  
"All warm light for all mankind." Banner says simple causing Buffy to frown "Loki's jab at Fury about the Cube."  
"I heard it." Steve says.  
Buffy raises her hand "I may be Stark-ish smart but colour me confused."  
"I think it was meant for your father." Banner tells her.  
Buffy immediately turns to her father who was standing by Banner "What did you do?"  
"Nothing. Listen." He tells her before offering Banner a blueberry.  
Banner stares at the bag confused before grabbing a berry and continuing "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still over the news."  
Steve nods "The Stark Tower? That big, ugly..." Steve freezes as he notices Tony raises an eyebrow at his comment "...building in New York."  
Buffy again has to roll her eyes at Tony "Don't look at him like that. You know he's right. The thing is butt ugly. I'd say it's just a personification of your ego. I told you it's basically like plastering a massive picture of your face on the empire state building. "  
Tony glares at her "Scotland made you mean."

Banner rolls his eyes at the antics of the father and daughter and turns to Steve explaining why he believes this "It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?"  
"It's just a prototype."  
Buffy eyes widen "You did that? When did you—"  
"100 days." He says simply his expression softening slightly, a Buffy smiles a proud smile he turns to Steve "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."  
Buffy nods in understanding "Why didn't SHIELD bring you in if it's about the Tesseract project. I mean if it is about sustainable energy why not go to the first person to develop it."  
Banner nods in agreement with the young blonde "And why are they in the energy business in the first place."  
Tony moves across the room over to one of the hologram screens and moves to show it to Steve and Buffy "I should probably look into that once my decryption programme finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files."  
"I'm sorry. Did you say..."  
Tony cuts the captain off "Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty little secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?"  
Buffy sighs, before snatching the bag from him and taking a couple blueberries "A few hours huh? Man, you are getting slow in your old age."  
"Bottle blonde." He mutters.  
"I'm not a bottle blonde!" She yells "You know that. I just have dark roots."

Steve just continues to glare at Tony "And yet your confused abut why they didn't want you around."  
"An intelligence organisation that fears intelligence?" Tony asks sarcastically "Historically, not awesome."  
"I think Loki's trying to wind us up." Steve tells them "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."  
Buffy chuckles "Yeah. I don't do that."  
Tony grins "Like father like daughter."  
Buffy smiles before high-fiving her dad "I've been screwed over by the government before, most recently. I don't trust any man that tries to order me around like a doll. Now if you'll excuse me, your hacking skills have slowed quite a bit in the past few years, pops." She says before heading for the door "I'll try my way will see who gets answers first."  
"It's on!" He yells as she exits the room.


	16. Chapter 16

Buffy moves through the back hall, she freezes when she spots the security camera, she quickly hides behind the wall and peaks down the hall to make sure no one's coming only to freeze as she sees Steve "Buffy. We-"  
"Shh." She tells him before placing her hand out to keep him from walking in view of the camera, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the amulet Willow gave her for emergencies "Involere." She whispers and she smirks as a small red burst is released from the amulet.  
Steve stares in astonishment "I'm guessing that's something from your world."  
Buffy nods "Guess you know about that then. This creates a glamour for 6 minutes. The security camera down the hall will think the hall is empty while I play finders keepers."  
Buffy moves down the hall, Steve following her "You changed your mind huh?"  
Steve hesitates "Not necessarily, I just want to make sure we are all on the same side."  
Buffy nods and she approaches a large metal door "So...what did my file tell you?" She asks him.  
"A lot." He says simply "Things that seem impossible."

"Nothing's impossible, I learnt that a long time ago." She says before pulling the two-ton metal doors open with her bare hands.  
"What is it like...coming back from the dead?" He asks as he follows her into the room. Buffy freezes "I'm sorry." Steve tells her "It's just..."  
"A lot to digest, I get it." She says before looking around the room.  
"This way." Steve says as he grabs her arm and pulls her towards the left side of the room.  
Steve turns to the blonde "You may be a Stark but from what I saw, what I read, we're a lot alike. We can help each other."  
"How's that?"  
"You help me with this war. And it will remind you of what it means to be a hero. Something you've been running from."  
Buffy chuckles before leaping up ten feet and grabbing onto the metal pole before flipping over it and landing on the metal platform.  
Steve follows suit and lands next to her "You seem to know a lot about me for someone who only met me a few hours ago."  
Steve smile "Maybe you remind me of someone."  
"Someone good I hope." The two walk across the platform as they continue their discussion "So what about you? I know bout your story, mainly from listening to Tony complain about you."  
"He doesn't like me much."  
Buffy shrugs "It's not that. He's just jealous that his father admired you more than his own son."  
Steve nods and the two stop by a long line of large cases, Buffy whistles "Bingo."  
Steve glances at her before pulling open one of the cases.  
Buffy groans "I hate it when the dumbass is right."

* * *

"What is Phase 2?" Buffy and Steve hear Tony ask Fury as they re-enter the lab.  
Steve places the gun they had found on the table loud enough to draw everyone's attention "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons." Steve explains.  
Buffy nods as she moves away from Steve and takes one of the computer screens off her father "He's right." Buffy turns to Fury "So pant's on fire, gonna spill the beans?" She asks as she starts typing into the computer.  
Fury tries to cover his tracks "Rodgers, Summers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making..."  
Buffy clears her throat, cutting Fury off as she finishes off Tony's hack, she smirks and turns to her father, a proud grin on her face "Told you, you were getting slow."  
Tony pouts but spots what she had found "I loosened the jar." He argues "You couldn't have got it open if I hadn't."  
Buffy shakes her head, before turning the screen to Fury "Wanna try that again? You know I really don't like lying government douchebags."  
Tony nods in approval at her comment "Nice." He says before giving her a high five.  
Steve continues to glare at Fury "I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit."  
At that moment Natasha and Thor enter the room, confused as to why the others were arguing.  
Banner turns to Agent Romanoff "Did you know about this?"  
Natasha turns to him and speaks calmly, trying not to get a rise out of him "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?"  
Banner merely chuckles "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."  
Buffy glares at Fury and Nat "Answer the question, Natasha."  
Natasha sighs "Loki is manipulating Banner."  
Banner stares at her "And you've been doing what, exactly?"  
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."  
Banner approaches her as he speaks "Yeah, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIElD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."  
Buffy raises her hand "Yeah, one of the suits better explain, before I start getting testy."

Fury merely raises a hand and points at Thor "Because of him."  
"Me?" Thor asks confused.  
Fury sighs and turns to speak to everyone "For years, hell centuries the biggest threat we've had was things Ms Summers is very adapt to handling. As have others in the past. But then last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that levelled a small town we learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."  
Tony shrugs "And the only human weapons you had, are off limits after Buffy told the council to shove it."  
"Pretty much. No help from the Slayers..."  
"You mean no control over them." Buffy argues "That's all you people want is control. You know that we could take you down in a second that's why the Watchers Council was so sweetly benefitted, the government controlled them meaning they could control us. No more of that, though."  
Fury tries to argue but the blonde was now clutching the scythe in her hand, anger vibrating off her "Like I said we're outgunned."  
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor points out.  
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."  
Buffy's eyes glaze over "I suggest you be careful with what you're suggesting."  
"Come on Summers. There are thousands of girls out there who are now almost as strong as you, some may not be as... gracious as you are. And then there's your sister."  
Buffy moves to approach Fury, her grasp on the scythe tightening but Tony grabs her forearm holding her back "Your sister almost destroyed the world just by existing." Fury continues "What if that happens again, there are people out there with powers that could do just what she was meant to. They need to be controlled."  
Steve glances over at the blonde slayer who was currently glaring daggers at Fury before he himself turned to the director "Like you controlled the Cube?"

Thor steps forwards not liking what he was hearing from this conversation "Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."  
Buffy glances at Thor confused "Come again?"  
"You forced our hand." Fury argues "We had to come up with something. And Summers already made it clear what wasn't an option. And to be honest she's scarier than you."  
Buffy huffs "What so this is my fault now?"  
Tony just stares at Fury "You wanted a nuclear deterrent. You knew that the Slayers would help, they just wouldn't take orders. That doesn't work for you. You wanted something you could control. Because that always calms everything right down." He says sarcastically.  
"Remind me again, how you made your fortune Stark?" Fury asks.  
Buffy rolls her eyes "I've already covered this with him. So shut up."  
Tony smirks only to have Buffy whack him on the chest "Stop smirking."  
Steve steps forward ready to defend the billionaire "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep..."  
"Hold on." Tony says as he steps around Buffy "How is this now about me?"  
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asks.  
Buffy rolls her eyes and moves to stand in-between Tony and Steve.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor points out once the group had finally stopped bickering like children.  
Banner shrugs "That's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? NO, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."  
"You need to step away." Fury says sternly.  
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony asks as he places a hand on Steve's shoulder.  
Steve immediately shoves his hand off "You know damn well why. Back off!"  
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."  
Buffy glares at her father "Dad..." She warns, her tone threatening "Don't—"  
"I'm talking to the old man Buff." Tony says moving to stand closer to Steve.  
Steve glares at him "Yeah. Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"  
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."  
Steve glances at Buffy "Seriously how are you related to him?"  
Buffy sighs "I think I'm adopted."  
Steve turns back to Tony "I've seen the footage, the only thing you really fight for is yourself. Explains why your daughter is always cleaning up your messes. You are not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you. Maybe that selflessness skips a generation."  
"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony says with a glare.

Buffy gets in-between the two "This is ridiculous you are fighting like children. Grow up!"  
The two seem to not notice her as they continue to glare at each other, each challenging the other "You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."  
Buffy huffs "Why do I have to be so short." She says as she realises both men can easily see over her head.  
"A hero?" Tony asks "Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."  
"Dad!" Buffy yells "Stop. Before I have to make you both stop."  
Steve merely glares at Tony "Put on the suit, Tony. Let's go a few rounds."  
"That's it!" Buffy says before placing her hands on both men's chest and shoves each of them into separate corners of the room causing them both to land painfully on the ground "I see one more display of testosterone poisoning, and I'll personally put you both in the hospital" She then glares at the both as they try to stand "Anybody think I'm exaggerating?"  
The three of them turn to Thor who chuckles at them all "You people are so petty and tiny."  
Buffy arches a brow "Is he drunk...or is that just his natural state. You didn't leave any pot or booze around here did you?" She asks turning to look up at her father as he stands.  
Tony glares "Maybe but I can't remember considering you just gave me a concussion!"  
Buffy rolls her eyes "You'll get over it."

Banner chuckles at the way everyone was acting "Yeah, this is a team."  
Fury turns to Natasha "Agent Romanoff would you escort Dr Banner back to his..."  
"Where?" Banner interrupts "You rented my room."  
"I thought that was my room." Buffy jokes.  
Fury rolls his eyes at the blonde before turning back to Banner, trying to explain "The cell was just in case..."  
"In case you needed to kill me." Banner says cutting him off "But you can't. I know. I tried."

Everyone in the room immediately silences hearing the words leave his mouth, Buffy's eyes widen and Tony glances down at his daughter sadly recognising the look on her face, it was the same one he had seen on her after she had told him the truth about heaven. The complete shut down of all emotion, a brick wall building up her defences, refusing to let anything pass.  
"I got low." Banner explains "I didn't see an end. So I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spat it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm."  
Everyone watches stunned as Banner picks up the sceptre, without he himself even realising that he had picked it up.  
"Banner..." Steve says calmly being wary of the way the doctor was acting on edge "...put down the sceptre."  
Banner looks down and his eyes widen, however suddenly one of the computers starts beeping, Banner places the sceptre down and moves to the screen "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my party trick after all."

Buffy sighs in relief before placing her scythe back into the holder on her thigh.  
"Where is it?" She asks referring to the tesseract "I'll go."  
"I'm faster." Tony argues.  
"I'm stronger and less impulsive. I'll go." Buffy points out.  
Thor shakes his head "The tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it."  
Buffy merely shrugs at the god "I'm barely human. So I guess I win the freak contest."  
Buffy moves to the door but Steve grabs her arm "You shouldn't go alone."  
"I'll be fine. Done a lot of stuff alone."  
"You're not going." Tony says "No way in hell."  
Tony then looks at where Steve's hand was currently on Buffy's arm "She's a bit young for you cap. Don't touch my daughter."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Shut up. You are not going that's the end of the story."  
"She's right." Steve says in agreement.  
"You gonna stop me?"  
Buffy groans "Not this again."  
"Point on the suit." Steve says "Let's find out."  
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."  
Buffy huffs and again places her hands on both men's chests keeping them separated "Do I have to hurt you both again?"  
Suddenly the Tesseract releases a powerful explosion sending everyone in the room flying, while Banner and Natasha are thrown out the glass window Buffy ends up slamming into one of the metal tables and smashing her head against the corner of it.


	17. Chapter 17

**_AN: Hey everyone I'm back I know it's been a while but I've had a_ _lot_ _of Uni work so sorry for not updating. Anyway, I took some time to think about this story and I've actually gone back and changed some of the dialogue from chapter 9 onwards. Just thought I would let you lot know. So enjoy this new update and I promise I will try to update all my stories at least once before I got back to school._**

* * *

Tony quickly stands and spots Buffy "Buffy!" He exclaims before quickly going over to her, his eyes widen in panic as he notices her head bleeding badly. Carefully he lifts her chin up "Buffy? Buff?"  
Buffy groans, wincing slightly due to pain in her head "I'm fine, Dad." Looking around the room at the destruction she sighs "Put on the suit." She tells him, Tony hesitates, he didn't want to leave her while she was hurt. "Go!" She yells "I'll be fine. I promise." Tony nods before quickly running off.

"You okay?" Steve asks as he helps her up.  
Buffy touches her forehead and pulls her hand away to see the blood "I'll be fine. I've had worse. Banner?"  
Steve gestures to the now broken glass window "That's not good." Buffy mutters "Go help my dad. Go!" she says as she shoves him out of the room before turning to Fury, who was currently speaking on comms to her father "Stark you got that?"

Buffy approaches him, glancing down at the broken window Banner had gone through with Natasha "Banner. If he's hurt..."  
Fury nods "Go."  
Buffy gives him a nod before peeking down the area where Natasha and Banner had fallen "Nat?" She calls.

"Buffy?" Natasha asks a little unsure.  
"Yeah, it's me."

"Buffy my leg it's stuck." 20 feet below the blonde Natasha glances over at Banner who was currently shaking "May need a little help down here."

Buffy leaps out the window and falls into the hole that had been created when the two had fallen.  
Buffy lands silently next to Natasha and glances at her and Banner "How are we doing here?"  
"We're okay." Natasha says, a slight tremble in her voice as she stares at Banner.

As Buffy bends down to get the metal pole off Natasha, the red-headed agent tries to keep Banner calm "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever..."  
"Your life?" Banner growls, his voice sounding distorted making Buffy become more panicked, her eyes widen as slowly Banner's body starts to shift.  
Buffy yanks to metal off Natasha and quickly helps her stand. Natasha continues to stare in horror "Bruce."

Buffy turns to look at Banner and her eyes widen as she no longer sees Banner but the Hulk. "We gotta go." Buffy says as the Hulk growls.

She lifts Natasha taking the majority of the agent's weight.  
Natasha looks over Buffy's shoulder and spots the Hulk "Buffy!"  
Buffy glances back and her eyes widen "Shit!" Buffy quickly leaps up landing on the next platform above the Hulk "Can you run?"  
Natasha nods "Good Run!' Buffy yells.

The two flip over the metal handle and onto the grated floor, they quickly run across the floor, the Hulk right on their tails, ripping the floor apart beneath them as he chases them.

The two women sneak through the pipes silently, just as Natasha is about to take another step Buffy grabs her arm and shakes her head. She grabs the Scythe from her side and slices open one of the pipes, suddenly there is a howl.

Natasha's eyes widen as she sees The Hulk, Buffy pushes her "Run!"  
As Natasha runs Buffy winces "This is gonna hurt."  
Buffy runs full speed at the Hulk and the two go crashing through the wall and land in one of the hangers where some of the jets were kept.

Buffy groans as she stands only to have the Hulk swing his fist around at her, Buffy quickly raises her arm and grabs a hold of his arm "Come on Banner. I'm five foot three, you have an unfair advantage." She says before shoving his arm away.  
She kicks him in the leg before leaping up and kicking him square in the chest sending him flying backwards and crashing into one of the jets.

The Hulk growls and sits out a tooth, Buffy's eyes widen "Not good. I'm sorry." She says, much like a terrified child.  
The Hulk runs at her full speed, Buffy flips over him only to have him grab her leg mid jump and spin her around before tossing her into the ceiling.  
Buffy lands on the ground with a thump, a look of horror covers her face as she notices her now broken nail "Okay Banner. You've crossed the line now."

Buffy flips herself back up and runs at Banner, she ducks as he tries to reach for her before she punches him in the face and does a backflip away from him kicking him in the face in the process.

Suddenly Thor's hammer comes flying through the air and hits the Hulk right in the jaw knocking him down.  
"Nice." Buffy says with a whistle.  
"I will take the beast." Thor says as he approaches her "There are others aboard this ship. Help them."  
Buffy arches an eyebrow "You sure."  
Thor nods "We cannot let Loki escape."  
"Keep goons away from crazy pants got it." Buffy watches at the Hulk stands and glares at Thor "Have fun." She says before running out of the hanger.

* * *

Buffy reaches for her comms as she runs through the ship "Dad? How's it going? We still going to crash and burn?"

Tony chuckles _"Going to give the place a boost. Where are you?"  
_ "Had a run in with The Hulk. Thor's got him now. I'm going after Loki."  
Before Tony can argue Buffy switches off her comms and runs towards Loki's cell.

Buffy runs through the levels of the ship knocking down the invaders as they approach her, she ducks as one of them goes to swing an axe at her, she then grabs the axe off him and hits him in the face with the blunt side, knocking him out. She then sends a powerful kick towards another invader as he approaches her, sending him flying out the window.  
Buffy rolls her eyes and continues on her journey "Amateurs."

* * *

Finally after constantly being attacked by the invaders Buffy makes it to Loki's cell.

"Nooooo!" Buffy screams as she watches Loki impale Agent Coulson with his sceptre. Buffy runs forward and tackles Loki to the ground, she stands quickly and grabs him by the back of the neck before tossing him face first into the wall and then throwing him across the room.

Buffy glances over to see Thor locked in Loki's cell, she doesn't focus on that bit of information however as she quickly crouches down by Coulson "Coulson? Phil?"  
"Hello, Ms Stark...oh sorry Ms Summers."

Buffy chuckles as she holds a bandage to his chest "Call me whatever ou want, you just got stabbed." She presses her comms "Coulson's down. Loki stabbed him with the sceptre. We need a medic." When there is no response her face falls.  
Coulson smiles at the young woman "Haven't got long." He says before looking at her closely "Take him down."

Buffy glances back at Thor only to spot Loki standing by the controls "No!" She yells as she watches the cell with Thor in it drop out of the plane, she glances back over at the controls where Loki was currently smirking at his work.  
Buffy stands "I'm so gonna kick your ass."  
Loki turns to the blonde "Really?"

"You're going to lose." Coulson tells him "It's in your nature."  
"Your heroes are scattered. Other than this one." Loki points out staring at Buffy "Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"  
Coulson glares at him "You lack conviction." Loki opens his mouth to respond but suddenly Coulson fires the weapon at him sending Loki flying "You're were saying" Buffy says.  
She glances down at Coulson who was staring at the gun in his hand "So what it does." Coulson glances up at Buffy "Give em hell."  
Buffy smiles "Goodbye. Coulson." She grasps his hand and gives it a squeeze before she grabs the Scythe and runs at Loki.

Buffy swings the scythe at Loki who blocks it with his sceptre "Finally a worthy opponent." He chuckles before spinning around and swinging the sceptre at her.  
Buffy leaps into a side aerial kicking Loki in the face "Do you ever shut up?" She asks before swinging the Scythe again.  
Loki again blocks the blow, the two seemed to be evenly matched.

Buffy ducks as Loki swings the sceptre at her she then raises the Scythe blocking the sceptre as he tries to bring it down on her.  
"You are a strong warrior." He tells her only to have her headbutt him in the face.  
"Thanks." She says with a grin before elbowing him in the face, she then spins away from him hitting him in the face with the hilt of the Scythe as she does.

The two circle each other watching each other's every movement, Loki finally moves to attack her again making Buffy grin she sees her opening and goes for it. Just as he swings the sceptre Buffy ducks before flipping sideways kicking Loki in the face before swinging the Scythe.  
Loki watches in complete shock as the scythe makes contact with his side, the blade cuts through his armour and buries itself in his side.

His eyes widen as the pain hits him.

Buffy smirks before yanking the scythe back out, she swings it again, Loki manages to force himself out of the state of shock but not before the Scythe again make contact leaving another gaping wound this time in his arm.  
Buffy looks at the now bleeding God "Looks like Gods do bleed after all."

Loki growls and swings the spectre at her, this time Buffy takes the painful blow to her face, as her head swings to the side she grunts in pain before turning back to face him. As she wipes the blood from her lip Loki who was now only able to use one arm swings the sceptre and sends a powerful burst of magic towards her.

Buffy's eyes widen and before she has a chance to move the blast hits her sending her crashing out the glass window.

"Ahhh!" Buffy screams as she goes hurdling through the air, she continues to spin in circles making her slightly sick however suddenly her body stops mid air.  
Her eyes which had been clenched shut finally open and immediately they widen in shock as she realises what had stopped her.

"Dad?"  
Tony glances down at his daughter "How's hanging Buff?"  
"Pretty good. You know getting thrown out of a flying tank thing is real fun."  
Tony chuckles and flies back up to the helicarrier, he lands next to Steve before placing Buffy down and lowering his mask.  
"Are you okay?" He asks seeing her bloody lip and a large bruise.  
Buffy nods and shows him the Scythe "You should see the other guy."  
Tony grins "That's my girl."

"Loki?" Steve asks.  
"He's not dead." Buffy tells him "I did hurt him, though. He won't be moving fast for the next few days."  
Buffy takes a deep breath before her eyes widen "Oh, God, Coulson."


	18. Chapter 18

A little while later, Buffy, Steve and Tony were all sat at a large table in the communications room while Fury stood across from them.

All three of them were now out of their suits including Buffy, who was now sat in a pair of black jeans and a white silk shirt.  
The blonde stared at the wall, her face void of all emotion, for years since she had been brought back the only way she had been able to cope with death and loss was to shut herself off inside.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury says as he places several Captain America trading cards on the table for the three Avengers to see "I guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury glances at Buffy "You know he even had a stake, kept it in a glass container, he was gonna ask you...guess he never got to it."  
Buffy glances down at the cards and flinches at the sight of the blood, Tony glances at his daughter before reaching over and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
"We're dead in the air people. Our communications, the location of The Cube, Banner, Thor... The only thing we have is Loki's blood and a lot of that thanks to you Ms Summers. We know that you've slowed him down but we don't know how Asgardian's work. He could be bleeding out or he could be stronger than ever. So I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming."

Buffy closes her eyes and can't help but feel guilty if only she had gotten there a second sooner she could have stopped it. Coulson wouldn't be dead. Thor wouldn't be gone and Loki wouldn't have escaped. The blonde sighs and forces herself to listen to Fury "Yes." He says "We were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark, Summers, they know this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes."

Buffy shakes her head and stands "We're not a team. The team you wanted is supposed to represent hope right? Well, I don't have that anymore." She stares at Fury for a brief second before storming out of the room.  
Tony watches his daughter before standing and running after her.

* * *

"Buffy?" Tony whispers and he walks into the area where Coulson had been killed, Buffy was currently sat on the floor leaning against the wall while staring at the hole in the middle of the room.

Buffy glances over at her father before sighing "Dad, what do you want?"

Tony doesn't answer he merely walks over and sits down next to her "For one not to be sitting on this floor. But the things I do for you." A small smile graces Buffy's face making Tony grin before he continues "It's not your fault." He says seriously "You couldn't have changed what happened..."

Buffy releases a harsh laugh "That's sweet dad. But we both know that's not true. There are a lot of things that I could have changed in this world. But I can't help but think if I had gotten there a second sooner I could have stopped Loki before Coulson—" Buffy's voice wavers as she speaks before finally she stops, unable to continue.  
Tony looks over at his daughter trying to think about what to say "You know you've been through so much in your short life. More than I can even imagine. Plus the powers constantly screw you over."  
Buffy chuckles "Yeah, I know even me dying for the world wasn't enough to satisfy them. They wanted to me to blow up a whole town."

Tony smiles fondly "You have never put yourself first not even when you were an annoying cheerleader." Buffy throws him an annoyed look which he blatantly ignores "But I have watched you grow from that annoying little girl into a strong selfless little woman."  
"Little?" She asks un-amused "I thought this was supposed to be a pep talk."  
Tony shrugs, he sucked at pep talks and he knew it "I'm me, kid, this is the best I got. Now listen to me, I know you if there was something you could have done you would have done it. Coulson knew you, hell he was a big fan, bet he would have paid good money to watch you slice and dice up Loki. Plus heard that you gave the Hulk a whopping. Pissed I missed that."

Buffy chuckles "Trust me that was all adrenaline. He would normally crush me like a bug." She continues to chuckle before over time her laughs slowly become sobs.  
Tony sighs sadly and wraps an arm around her shoulder. Buffy leans her head against her father's shoulder and continues to cry.

A few minutes later Steve enters the room just as Buffy stands and moves to stand by the hole in the middle of the room. Tony watches her for a second before standing and doing the same.

"Was he married?" Steve asks the two of them.  
"No." Tony says automatically "There was a cellist, I think."  
"Her name is Audrey." Buffy tells them "Audrey Nathan, she's from Portland, Oregon. She's pretty."  
"You met her?" Steve asks.  
Buffy shakes her head and glances at him "No, but Coulson liked to brag, he had pictures."

Steve nods sadly and takes a deep breath "I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."  
"He was an idiot." Tony says.  
Buffy's eyes widen "Dad!"  
"Buffy, he took on Loki alone. I get you doing it, he's not the first you've fought but Coulson...doing that makes him an idiot."

Buffy watches appalled as Tony backs away and approaches Rogers "He was doing his job." Steve states simply.  
Tony scoffs "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."  
"Sometimes you can't wait." Buffy says.  
"Right, I've heard that before. From you. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now."

Steve turns to Tony who was now walking towards the exit "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier."  
"We are not soldiers." Tony hisses "I'm not marching to Fury's fife." Tony looks up at Buffy "And neither are you. I lost you once, you are not dying for someone else again."  
Buffy sighs and approaches the two of them "That's not gonna happen. I don't give a rat's ass what Fury wants."

"She's right." Steve says in agreement with the blonde "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we got to put that behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list..."  
Tony who was glancing at the blood turns back to them both "He made it personal."  
"He did seem very pleased with himself, even with me punching him in the face." Buffy points out.  
Tony nods "That's what is wants. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"  
"To tear us apart." Steve says as he comes to this realisation.

Tony nods "Yeah, divide and conquer is great but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it."  
Buffy's eyes widen "He wants an audience. I mean he is a diva. An injured diva but still."  
"He's our very own movie star diva." Tony says "He wants flowers, a parade, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered..." Tony freezes "Son of a bitch."  
Buffy groans "I told you your ego was going to destroy us all at one point."  
"Suit up." Steve tells them "Meet at the jet."

* * *

Buffy is moving to get her gear only to have Tony appear and grab her arm, he quickly drags her into the room where his armour was being kept.

Buffy looks at him confused "Seriously, dad not now with the cryptic."  
"I made something for you. Didn't have time to put in any cool technical tricks but for now, it will do."  
He twists a nob on his watch and Buffy watches in shock as a portion of the wall pulls out revealing a suit similar to her old one yet somehow it seemed so different.

Unlike the last, there was no red light of electricity lining the suit.

The suit was still made of the same Kevlar as before: black leather trouser with red lining, the top this time though was the same colour as the scythe, red with linings of silver. It looked like a corset and came with a black and silver leather jacket.

Next to the suit was her old bo staff as well the glasses and black wig, which was slightly different, this one was wavy with a side fringe and would come just past her shoulders.  
"Wow." She whistles "You've been busy."

Buffy moves over to the suit and runs her hands across the suit "It's different."  
"Yeah." Tony tells her "I've been working on a few new designs this is just the only one I actually got to making and it's not even finished yet. But I figured you'd like the edition of the leather jacket...but trust me the next one will not have that so enjoy it while it lasts."  
Buffy chuckles "Thank you."

"The batons still work the same but they are a bit more explosive now."  
Buffy glances at the bo staff before raising her scythe "I'm good with this."  
"Humour me alright."  
Buffy sighs "Fine. I'll bring them but this is my favourite."  
Tony huffs "Give me time. I'll make something more badass."  
Tony kisses the top of his daughter's head "Let's give them hell." He says before smiling and making his way to his own suit.

* * *

Once Buffy was suited up she makes her way to the cargo bay, she places her glasses on only to jump in shock as small blue screens appear on the lids " _Hello Ms Summers. It's a pleasure to have you back."_

Buffy who was currently stunned shakes her head as she tries to focus "Jarvis?"  
" _Yes, Ms."  
_ Buffy nods "It's great to see you too...well sort of." She says as she places the batons in the holders on her hips and keeps the scythe in her grasp "So um Jar no offence but could you not do the whole blue screen thing. I know my dad has it in the helmet but I'm not a big fan of seeing through someone else's."  
" _Of course Ms Summers."_ The A.I replies politely " _If you need any assistance then please just ask."  
_ Buffy smiles "Thanks, Jar." At her request the A.I removes the blue screens and they return back to normal.

"Nice suit." Steve says as he approaches her, now suited up with Natasha and Clint.  
"Thanks." Buffy tells him before glancing at Clint "You good or am I gonna have to hit you?"  
Clint chuckles "I'm good."  
"Good. Don't wanna put you back in the hospital...again."  
Steve arches an eyebrow "Am I missing something?"  
"Always Cap." Natasha tells him as the four head for one of the jets.  
The SHIELD agent in the jet immediately stands "Hey, you guys aren't authorised to be in here."  
"Son just don't." Steve says calmly.  
Buffy rolls her eyes and grabs the agent's shirt before tossing him off the jet "So we ready?"

* * *

As they fly towards the city Buffy moves towards the corner of the ship and pulls out her phone, she quickly types out a text message and sends it. She knew they needed a plan B, she just hoped that her contact would pull through and show up for once.

Buffy heads back over to the others, she looks out the window and thanks to her enhanced senses she spots her father, landing on Stark tower, her eyes widen as she spots her father removing the suit and making his way to Loki.

Buffy quickly places the scythe in its holder and makes her way over to Natasha and Clint "We need to make a pit stop."  
"Now?" Clint asks shocked.

Buffy nods "Look we don't have to stop but I just need to make a little detour, drop me off?"  
Clint looks over at Natasha who merely chuckles at the blonde's request "Well it's not like you need a parachute how about we just open the door?"  
Buffy smiles "Finally someone that can compromise."


	19. Chapter 19

**Stark Tower, New York City**

Tony opens up a bottle of scotch as he listens to Loki "What do I have to Fear?"  
"The Avengers." Tony tells him "That's what we call ourselves. We're sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes, type of thing."  
Loki chuckles "Yes, I've met them."

Tony smiles "Yeah limpy." He says gesturing to Loki's limp as he walks and the way he carried his injured arm, not to mention the cuts and bruises on his face "Damn my girl really did do a number on you. Just makes a father proud. But in terms of the others, you got a point. But let's do a headcount, here. Your brother, the demi-god, a super-soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend." As Tony speaks he reaches for the two metal cuffs hidden in the bar and carefully places them on his wrists "My lovely daughter, a girl with a genius mind yet is the most deadly woman on the planet and one of the best warriors in the world to have ever lived, a man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella you've managed to piss off every single one of them."  
"That was the plan."

Tony raises an eyebrow, before taking a sip of his drink "So taking a beating from a five foot three blonde was part of your plan? Not a great plan."  
"You know I really do not see the family resemblance." Loki points out as Tony slowly walks towards him.  
"I hear that alot." Tony says nonchalantly before continuing to approach the God "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."  
"I have an army."  
"We have a hulk."  
"I thought the beast had wandered off."

Tony rolls his eyes looking scarily like Buffy as he does "You're missing the point. There is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us but it's all on you. Plus if you piss off the blonde she has her own army more than capable of killing yours. You're just lucky she doesn't want them involved. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

Loki looks at Tony curiously before approaching the billionaire trying to ignore the pain in his injured side and his leg "How will your friends have time for me when they are so busy fighting you?"  
Loki raises the sceptre and places it against Tony's chest, there is a clang of metal and Loki frowns in confusion as nothing happens "This usually works." He says after repeatedly trying to control him.

Tony nods "Well, performance issues, it's not uncommon. One out of five..." Tony is cut off as Loki grabs him by the neck and tosses him towards the window, however, before he can go crashing through the window Buffy crashes through it and into the room. She grabs Tony before he can fall out and tosses him to the ground.

"Hey!" She yells at Loki "Only I get to throw my dad out of a window!" She yells angrily. She grabs the batons from her side and quickly puts them together, something which seemed so natural to her, once it's in one piece she twists it in her hands before aiming it at Loki and firing a power bolt of red energy at him sending him crashing into the far wall.

Buffy looks down at the bo staff in her hands and grins "Nice." She whistles before quickly detaching it and putting it back in its holder. She turns to her father and quickly runs over to him "Dad?" She asks as she crouches down next to him "Are you okay?"  
"Right as rain." He coughs as she helps him up.

Buffy smiles at him before grabbing the scythe, as she does she doesn't notice him slip a pair of cuffs similar to his own onto her wrists before she runs at Loki.

Loki stands while Buffy smirks "Your face looks a little lonely. I think your black eye could use a friend."  
Loki growls at her and swings the sceptre at her but she merely flips through the air, she lands behind him and kicks him square in the back sending him flying.  
As he struggles to stand Buffy runs at him, she leaps up and wraps her legs around his neck before twisting into a side aerial knocking him back down to the ground while she lands on her feet gracefully.

Buffy spins the Scythe in her hands as she approaches Loki, she swings the Scythe down going for the final blow but he manages to raise the sceptre in time to block the blow, he then twists the sceptre manoeuvring it so it hits Buffy in the jaw causing her to stumble slightly.

Loki quickly stands and swings the sceptre at her hitting her hard in the face sending her crashing through the glass coffee table.  
"Buffy!" Tony yells.

Loki grins he raises the spectre and aims a bolt at Tony, Buffy's eyes widen and she quickly stands, ignoring the pain of the glass that had sliced her cheek.

She runs towards her father "No!" She screams as she sees Loki release a bolt from the sceptre, she runs as fast as she can and pushes her father to the ground just in time for the bolt of energy to miss him and hit her instead.

Buffy goes crashing through the window, and Tony looks up in shock "Nooo! Deploy! Deploy!"  
Suddenly a metal case comes flying out of the wall knocking Loki down before following Buffy out of the window.

Buffy spins around screaming as she falls, as she spins she notices something flying towards her " _Ms Summers, please raises your arms and remain still."_ Jarvis asks politely.  
"I'm falling to my death and you're asking me to be still! What the hell!?"

Buffy huffs in frustration but does as he requests, her eyes widen as she spots the cuffs on her wrists "What the fu—"  
Buffy is cut off as the metal case that had fallen after her suddenly starts to take form around her, encasing her body in a metal suit.  
Just as she is about to hit the ground the mask falls covering her face and the blue screens fill her vision "Jarvis! A little help!"  
 _"_ _Of course Ms."_

Buffy raises her hands stopping her from becoming a crushed Slayer and then zooms back up towards the tower.

* * *

Tony glances over at Loki "And there's one other person you pissed off." He says just as Buffy appears floating mid-air in the Iron Man Mark VII "His name was Phil."  
As Tony finishes speaking Buffy raises her hand and fires at Loki sending him sprawling to the ground.  
Buffy flies into the room and lands with a stumble "Jarvis lower the damn mask!"  
Finally, the masks lowers revealing Buffy's very pissed off face, she glares at her father "Get this thing off me right now! I don't like flying-flying is a big-big no-no. No flying for Buffy ever!"  
Tony merely smirks "I see you like the Buffster. Though it is meant for me I just thought maybe you might need it more than me when you went through the window."  
Buffy eyes widen, pure fury filling her eyes, her face turns red and her fists clench, jaw locking, finally she hisses out "You names a suit the Buffster!"  
Tony shrugs "Well Mark VII, but I still prefer the Buffster, gives it a kind of flair."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Jarvis get this thing off me now."  
" _Of course Ms Summers."_ Slowly the suit peels off her and merely stands there in form just with no one in it.

Buffy approaches her father, now more comfortable in her own gear and not the giant metal suit "I swear—"  
Buffy is cut off as she notices the portal open in the sky "Oh my god."  
Tony turns and his eyes widen "Right. Army."  
Buffy nods "Put your suit on. I'll kick your ass after the end of the world."  
Tony smiles before quickly standing in front of the suit. The suit morphs around him before he goes flying upwards towards the portal.

Buffy notices one of the aliens flying on what seemed to look a lot like a jet ski, she takes a deep breath before running out onto the balcony and leaping off it.

She manages to land on one of the aliens jets, she grabs the scythe and slices both of the aliens' heads off before taking control of the jet.


	20. Chapter 20

_A/N: Hey everyone sorry it's best a while, I've literally only just stopped filming my short film last week and I have five assignment for Uni due this month so I'm a bit stressed. Anyway, I've had this chapter ready a while just haven't had the chance to post. So here it is, please review and let me know what you think._

* * *

 _"_ _Stark we're on your three heading north east."_ Buffy hears Natasha says through the comms. Buffy immediately turns the ship she was on around, trying not to crash into anything and zooms forward in that direction.

" _What did you stop for drive –through?"_ She hears Tony ask " _Swing up park. Buffy's on one of the flying alien jet skies, she'll meet you there. I'm going to lay them out for you."  
_ Natasha frowns _"Buffy's on a what?!"_

Buffy spots the jet Natasha was in with the other take a hit from Loki, she quickly zooms forward as fast as she can and watches as the ship lands on the ground. "Hey!" Buffy yells as she spots the three of them climb out of the jet "You need a ride?"  
Natasha chuckles "How'd you get that."

Suddenly another alien jet crashes into Buffy destroying the one she was, Buffy leaps off and twists landing on the ground next to the others "Looks like we're walking. Stupid aliens."

* * *

The four of them stop in the middle of 200 Park Avenue just as a massive alien almost fifty feet long comes climbing out of the portal, it crashes into a nearby building demolishing it to pieces but not without releasing even more of the Chitauri aliens from it's back.

Buffy stares with wide eyes "Dad? Are you missing Dracula right about now? Cause I am."  
 _"_ _Right there with you Buff. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"  
_ "Banner?" Steve asks confused.  
" _Just keep me posted."_

* * *

Buffy and Steve run over to Natasha and Clint who were crouched behind a cab "We've got civilians still trapped up here."

Buffy turns to see Loki fly past on one of the jets and start firing at the civilians bellow "They're target practise down there." Buffy tells Steve as she gestures down towards the screaming people, who were all running in terror.

Buffy ducks as an energy blast is sent her way, she grabs her batons and switches it into the bo staff before aiming it towards the Chitauri soldiers and firing power bursts of red energy towards them. After a few blows Buffy ducks back down and switches the bo staff back before placing it back in the holders on her hips.

Buffy grabs the scythe off her back and turns to Natasha "Slipt up." She suggests to the redhead. Natasha nods in agreement with the blonde "Two and two. We got this. It's good. You two go."  
Steve glances over at Clint "Do you think you can hold them off?"  
Buffy smirks "Yeah? Do you?"

Clint rolls his eyes before a grin covers his face "Captain, Slayer, it would be my genuine pleasure." He says before reaching for an arrow and firing at the Aliens approaching them, hitting one dead straight in the eye.

Buffy and Steve glance at each other before they both take off running towards the street below, Buffy flips through the air next to Steve and leaps off the bus they had run across just as it blows up, she rolls across the floor as she lands before quickly standing and twirling the scythe in her hand.

She glances over at Steve "Come on old man." She says with a laugh before running forward.  
Steve sighs "Starting to see that family resemblance!" He yells before running in the same direction.

* * *

 **Scotland, United Kingdom**

"Sir." A slayer named Jane says as she approaches Xander.

Xander who was currently shoving down a whole Pizza quickly spits out his pizza and turns to her, trying to act professionally despite the mushroom currently on the front of his shirt "Yes, Jane? What is it?"  
"Sir, It's about Ms Summers. You really need to switch on the news."

Xander frowns before reaching for the remote on his desk, as he switches on the news he drops the remote in shock at what he was seeing, as there on screen was what was being called The Battle of New York. The camera zoomed around, pictures of Buffy's dad in the suit came up as he flew towards a large portal in the sky.

The there are images of a dark-haired woman fighting side by side with Captain America.  
Xander's eyes widen "Damn Buffy looks badass!"  
"Sir!" Jane exclaims shocked that he could be acting like such a child during this crisis "Shouldn't we assemble the team?"

Xander was about to say yes however it's then he remembers that most of the girls were still injured from the battle with Twilight, and the only ones that weren't, were on a mission to destroy an underground demon fighting ring which had been abducting humans to feed to their demon prisoners.

"We can't." He says, hating the fact that he had to think professionally about this, they didn't have the resources right now, they couldn't risk it. "This is up to the Avengers."

Jane sighs she wanted to argue but the more she thought about it the more she realised that Xander was right.

Xander watches the screen however his attention is brought to his phone as it vibrates in his pocket, he manages to tear his attention away from the TV and grabs his phone. His eyes widen however as he sees the text message.

" _Buffy contacted me. Keep The Slayers Safe. I'll Help Buffy. Don't Worry."_

There was no caller idea but Xander knew automatically who it was. And it brought a grin to his face.

* * *

 **New York City, United States**

Buffy and Steve continue to leap over cars to get closer to the police force who were trying to fight the Aliens flying towards them.

Finally, the two Avengers reach the cops, they both leap onto the car right in front of them.  
Steve turns to the Chief of Police "There are people inside and they're going to be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basements or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

The chief just stares at Cap and Buffy confused and slightly annoyed "Why the hell should I take orders from you?"

Buffy rolls her eyes "Oh I'm so gonna shove my foot up his ass." She mutters.

Suddenly an explosion goes off behind them and two Chitauri soldiers run at Buffy and Steve. Buffy turns to Steve, as though they were speaking telepathically she placed her foot in his hand allowing him to throw her into the air before he turns and attacks one of the soldiers.

Buffy flips through the air and lands on a Chitauri's back, she snaps his neck before turning as another approaches her, she ducks as it takes a swing at her, before twirling the scythe in her hand and bringing it down on his head before pushing the scythe down splitting the alien in two.

Buffy turns to see the Chief watching Steve and Buffy in shock "That's why? Or do you want another demonstration?"

The cop doesn't need any more convincing, he immediately turns to his officers and repeats what Cap and told him.

* * *

 _"_ _Well, we got its attention."_ Buffy hears Tony say over comms as she wraps her left leg around an Alien's neck forcing him down to the ground.

"Please tell me you did the chicken dance?" She jokes as she swings the scythe down and removes the Alien's head before turning to the other five that were running at her "Your chicken dance is awesome Pepper even uploaded it to youtube. 2 million hits."  
 _"_ _Pepper did what?!"_

Buffy grins as she ducks under the attack of one of the Alien's, she grabs onto one of the aliens pressing one foot on his knee to hoist herself up before twisting so that she could kick the next alien in the face knocking him down. She turns back to the alien she was currently grasping onto and flips over him so she lands behind him just as a third alien takes fire at her.

Lifting the now dead alien's body she tosses it at the remaining two aliens, before grabbing her bo staff and firing a bolt of red energy at them.  
Buffy grins and glances at Steve "This is fun."

Steve stares at her, she was honestly a mad woman, but impressive nonetheless. Honestly, she reminded him of the free spirit Howard was in his youth, only she was less...insane.

* * *

Buffy runs towards Clint and Natasha as she spots them being overrun, she leaps onto a nearby bus and then jumps back to the bridge where the two assassins were still fighting.

Throwing the scythe through the air she watches as it slices through three aliens before burying itself in a car right by Natasha who grabs the scythe and uses it to the remove the head of one of the aliens attacking her.  
Natasha stares at the weapon for a moment before tossing it back to Buffy "Nice. I may be stealing this."

Buffy chuckles as she catches the scythe and stabs the alien to her left in the eye "Good luck with that Nat."

As one of the aliens runs at her Buffy presses her foot on a nearby car using it to push herself into a flip. She flips over the aliens head landing behind him before kicking him in the back causing him to crash into the car.

Buffy then kicks the back of his knee and grasps the door of the car and slams it shut beheading him.

Suddenly a lightning strike kills the remaining aliens surrounding them, Buffy pouts slightly "I was having fun."

 _"You really are my child."_ Tony says over comms, clearly proud making Buffy roll her eyes before heading over to Thor.

"What's the story upstairs?" Cap asks.  
Thor turns to the ground "The power surrounding the Cube is impenetrable."  
 _"Thor's right. We got to deal with these guys."_

Buffy sighs there were running out of time and her contact had still yet to contact her back "So what's the what?" Buffy asks only to get frowns of confusion from both Thor and Steve.  
"She means..." Natasha says "...how do we do this?"  
"As a team."

Thor turns to them "I have unfinished business with Loki."  
"Yeah?" Barton asks as he collects his arrows "Well, get in line."  
"Behind me." Buffy points out "He threw my dad out a window. I owe him the same courtesy."

Steve sighs, this was the not the time for three members of the team to be focused on revenge "Save it. Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us, and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild."

Buffy is about to comment when her eyes widen as a purple glow begins to cover the city "What the hell is that?" Barton asks.  
Buffy grins and places her scythe on her back as she shakes her head in astonishment "The Calvary just arrived."

Natasha frowns and turns to Barton "Melinda?" She mouths but he shakes his head, they both knew that Agent May was still working her desk job.  
"Who is that?" Steve asks gesturing to the red head woman currently floating down towards the group.

"Hi." Willow says before running over to her best friend "Buffy!"  
"Hey Willow." Buffy says joyfully hugging her best friend.  
 _"Is that red?"_ Tony asks as he continues to fly above them all.

"Hi, Mr. Stark."  
 _"You still gay? Please say no."_ He asks.  
Buffy groans really creeped out that her dad was basically hitting on her best friend "Dad. No."

Willow shakes her head in amusement before turning to the group of Avengers "Hi. I'm Willow. You don't have to worry about keeping it contained, I placed a forcefield around the Island of New York."  
Thor frowns as he stares at the young witch, he had no idea that magic existed on this planet, it must have been well hidden.

Willow gives them all a smile, Steve who was still stunned from watching a woman fly and use magic merely nods "Thank you, ma'am."

Willow grins and nudges Buffy "Aww ain't he polite and cute too." Buffy shakes her head in amusement before turning to face her best friend as she continues "I'm gonna go find a way to close the portal."  
Buffy gives her another hug before watching her best friend fly off towards the tower.

She turns to the group of Avengers who were all watching stunned "Oh so that's Willow. She's a witch."  
Natasha and Clint glance at each other before nodding stunned.  
 _"A hot witch."_ Tony points out.  
"Dad she's the same age as me. Pepper and I would kill you. Plus Willow has a thing for Pepper."

All the Avengers merely stare at the blonde in shock however before anyone else could say anything all their attention's were drawn to the sound of a motorbike coming towards them.  
Turning her head Buffy is surprised to spot Bruce Banner on a motorbike making his way towards them.

The five Avengers make their way towards him, as Banner looks around at the damage the city was in he sighs "So, this all seems horrible."  
Natasha who was watching Banner intently shakes her head "I've seen worse."  
Banner turns to her, a look of guilt covering his face at her words "Sorry."  
"No." She says smiling "We could use a little worse."

Buffy nods in agreement with the redhead before reaching for her comms "Yo, dad. Looky who just showed up to the party."  
 _"Banner?"  
_ Steve nods "Just like you said."  
 _"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."_

Buffy groans, every time Tony said something like that things evidently always went wrong. A second later her fears are confirmed as Tony appears flying around a nearby building which is quickly destroyed at the massive alien metal creature chases after him.  
Natasha stares with wide eyes "I don't see how that's a party."  
Buffy shrugs "Depends on how insane you are."

As the creature gets closer to them, Banner slowly walks towards it.

Every one of them stares, wondering what he was up to, "Dr Banner." Steve says making the scientist pause "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."  
Banner smirks as he continues to walk towards the beast that was fast approaching "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry." He says before slowly his body starts morphing, his skin turns grin and as his body doubles in size his shirt rips.

Buffy's eyes widen, she had seen a lot of things in her short lifetime, this was defiantly one for the books.  
Suddenly the hulk slams it's large fist into the creature as it approaches them.

" _Hold on!"_ Tony says as he flies over and begins hurling rockets at the creature which was threatening to drop on all of them.  
Steve quickly grabs Buffy and gets her to crouch down in front of him while he protects the both of them with his shield.

* * *

Once the were sure they weren't going to be crushed, the six of them all stand in a circle listening to the howling of the aliens around them as their mother ship is destroyed.

Buffy twirls her scythe in her hands as she stands between her father and Steve, her eyes are quickly drawn back to the portal as she notices larger alien creatures coming through.

"The redhead?" Tony asks.  
"Working on closing the portal." Buffy answers as she twirls the scythe in her hands before turning to Steve "You wanna call?"

Steve shrugs before quickly forming a plan in his head "All right, listen up. Until Willow..." Steve pauses and turns back to Buffy "It is Willow, correct?"  
Buffy smiles "Yep. Good old Wil."

When Buffy notices her father smirking she slaps his chest "I don't like this new creepiness for Willow."

Tony merely smiles at his daughter "You love me anyway, daughter of mine."  
"Debateable" She scoffs before turning back to Steve.

"Until Willow can close the portal..." He continues "Our priority is containment. They may be limited to New York now but we don't know what trips Loki has up his sleeves. Barton, I want you up there on that roof." Steve says gesturing to the tall building to their right "Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays."

Steve turns to Tony "Stark. Permenter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash. If these things fill the entire city we're done for. We need to destroy them before they get to the outskirts."

Barton who had been trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to get onto a 30-story roof glances at Tony "Can you give me a lift?"

"Right." Tony says with a nod before quickly kissing Buffy on the top of the head, he slams his helmet down before grabbing Clint "Better clench up, Legolas." He says before the two of them go flying upwards.

Buffy watches in amusement for a moment before looking back towards where Willow went, her eyes widen as she spots Willow now standing by the energy source.

"Thor." Steve says "You got to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You got the lightning. Light the bastards up."  
Buffy grins "You kiss your mother with that mouth." She says in amusement only to get a laugh from Tony over comms _"Oh that's so gonna be a thing"_

Buffy smiles before turning to Natasha "I want you with Willow." She says before Steve could even suggest anything.  
"If she gets overrun while doing the spell she's gonna need help."

Natasha looks at the Stark girl for a brief second before nodding, however, she quickly realises that she now, in fact, has to get up there "You alright if I steal you're flying jet-ski idea?" Natasha asks with a smirk on her face.  
Buffy grins "Be my guest. As long as you leave my scythe alone."

Natasha pouts "We're gonna have to talk about that." She says with a smirk before placing her foot in Buffy's clasped hands.  
Buffy looks at her red-headed friend "Ready?"  
"Oh, yeah." The redhead says "It's gonna be fun." She says just as Buffy throws her upwards allowing her to grab onto one of the alien ships.

Both Buffy and Steve glance at each other "So you and me on the ground then?" Buffy asks.  
Steve nods about to answer however is cut off by the loud outburst from her father _"Five feet minimum distance at all time!"_

Buffy groans in annoyance and slight embarrassment only to have Natasha laugh _"Worried she's not daddy's precious little pure sweet girl. Sorry, Stark that ship sailed a long long..."_

"Okay!" Buffy yells effectively cutting off this situation before Tony came back and started blowing the heads off of all human males.  
Steve watches with an amused frown before turning to the Hulk "And Hulk...smash."  
The Hulk grins before leaping up into the sky.

Buffy watches impressed before turning to Steve just as aliens begin to approach them getting closer "You ready for this?"


	21. Chapter 21

Natasha leaps up onto the back of the alien, wrapping her legs around his waist she stabs two knives into his back using them to steer the ship towards the tower where she could spot Buffy's friend now lowering herself in front of the power source.

* * *

Willow lands gracefully on the roof of the building, her eyes wide with wonder, she looks around at the stunning penthouse, despite the tacky STARK imprint on the front of the building the place was elegant. Honestly, despite what she had heard from both Buffy and the press she had never really realized just how rich Buffy's family was.

"Wow her trust fund must be huge." She whistles still in astonishment.

Suddenly a large metal object is swung at her, the red head quickly steps to the side only to spot Doctor Selvig swinging Loki's spectre at her.

Despite the excitement over actually meeting the famed scientist Willow focuses on the task at hand, raising her hand she sends Selvig flying backward, making him lose his grasp on the Sceptre.

Floating over to him she summons the sceptre to her grasp before approaching him, just as he moves to attack her again she raises her hand freezing him, making him completely immobile.

She glances down at the sceptre in her hands, she could feel the power running through it, filling her veins, calling to her darker side. Swallowing the temptation to give into her deeper urges, she raises the sceptre and places it onto Selvig's chest watching in amazement as his eyes turn from that crystal blue back to their normal gray.

Selvig groans in pain before dropping to his knees at her feet, "How?"

Willow smiles down at the man "My name is Willow, I'm gonna make this quick, I'm a witch you were brainwashed by a God who is now trying to destroy the present. So wanna help me save the world because I so want to work through your mind on details about the piece you wrote about the incident in New Mexico it was awesome."

* * *

Buffy breaks the alien's arm before swinging the scythe down on it slicing it from place. Dropping to her knees she spins across the floor slicing off the alien's legs before doing the same to the one approaching her.

Suddenly, however, another alien runs at her taking her off her feet and slamming her up against the car.

Buffy groans in pain before head butting the alien, as it stumbles she flips up landing on her feet on the hood of the car. Twisting through the air she lands behind him and grabs her bo-staff off the ground releasing an energy bolt in its direction, blowing up the alien in the process.

After a long pause Buffy sighs, leaning against the Hood of the car she takes a deep breath, she hated to admit it but she was getting damn tired.

"Miss Summers." Captain Rogers says as he leaps back onto the bridge to approach her.

Buffy chuckles before clicking her neck "Buffy." She corrects before looking over at the end of the bridge "They're like wasps." She hisses completely and utterly annoyed. She hadn't this many of the same creatures since The First's army of uber-vamps.

"None of this matters if we don't get that portal closed." Steve says as he stares up at the portal where creatures were still piling in.

"Willow hasn't got long till the city is overrun." Buffy realizes only to freeze as she hears more creatures coming towards them.

Buffy turns to face the aliens, standing beside Steve she twirls the scythe in her grasp "How do you feel about a point system?" She asks with a tilt of her head.

Steve stares at her astonished she was an odd one, even for a Stark, but nonetheless, she had a good heart, he could sense that about her.

"Might as well." He says despite his better judgement "What does the winner get?"

Buffy smirks "I really am a bad influence on you."

* * *

Buffy reaches her hand out as she sees her father flying by, he grasps her wrist and swings her in the direction of the alien currently shooting at her from one of the ships.

As Tony flies onto the ground shooting lasers off Steve's shield Buffy climbs onto the ship, she backhands the alien across the face before kneeing him in the stomach, she leaps up and wraps a leg around his neck and forces him down to the ground. As he drops she twirls the scythe in her grasp and brings it down swiftly removing his head.

Quickly she heads over to the controls and frowns "Not good." She mumbles as she stares at the buttons, she sighs in frustration before grabbing the batons at her sides and attaching them to the ship letting the electricity flow through the alien device.

Her eyes widen as the ship she was on starts firing at the other aliens below.  
"Cool."

 _"_ _Summers."_ Barton says through comms _"Group of them moving in on Grand Central. There are civilians inside."_

"I'm on it." She says into her comms before looking for her father as he flies past her she leaps off the ship and onto his back "Grand Central."

"I'm not a taxi driver." Tony hisses as he flies towards the station despite his outburst.  
After a long pause, he shrugs "As long as this keeps you away from the star spangled..."

"Steve?" Buffy asks with an arch of the eyebrow before rolling her eyes "Don't be a child."  
"Child happens to be you. My kid. So-no-boys. We discussed this after the whole Angel thing. And the Riley thing...I really hated that kid."

Buffy rolls her eyes again, he had always been overprotective when it came to boys, even when she was five and had play dates he would terrorize the little boy next door. His overprotective streak just got worse when she was in high school.

"You really need to remember I'm not a kid anymore."  
"Doesn't matter. I still say five feet minimum distance at all times."

Buffy shakes her head in amusement before leaping off her father's back and landing just outside the station "I guess Steve does have great arms." She says dreamily making sure her comms were on silent before saying it.

Through his mask, Tony's eyes darken "Nope!" He yells "That's it when the world isn't about to get messed up, I'm flying that boy to mars." He exclaims before flying off leaving a laughing Buffy in his wake.

She shakes her head in amusement before leaping up onto the side of the building and crashing through the window.

"Hey!" Buffy exclaims as she spots several aliens pointing their weapons at the civilians "Geez, what does a girl have to do to get a little attention around here. I mean we fight and fight but nothing...talk about mixed signals."

Suddenly one of the creatures throws a bomb at her, she smirks before leaping through the air "That's better. Now we are getting somewhere."

She throws the scythe through the air burying it in one of the alien's necks. She then grabs the bomb and kicks it through the air hitting one of the aliens in the chest. As it explodes his body is sent to pieces.

She quickly runs at the other aliens and the two go crashing off the balcony down to the main floor of the station, as the civilians scream Buffy groans and tosses the alien off her.

Grabbing her batons she slides across the floor and kicks the alien across the room and through the window.

* * *

 _"_ _Director Fury, the council has made a decision."_

One of the members of the Council informs Fury as he stands in the Helicarrier, his hands on his hips; he was clearly pissed "I recognise the Council has made a decision. But given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."

 _"_ _Director..."_ Gideon Malick, another member of the Council says with a sigh _"You're closer than any of our subs...you scramble that jet..."_

"That is the island of Manhattan." Fury says furiously "And if you haven't as damn well noticed the damn thing is covered by a freaking forcefield. No nuke is getting through that."

Malik sighs _"We are aware of that. Ms. Rosenburg is on our gifted list from the Sunnydale Incident. However, we have our own gifted, another Sunnydale alum, who can get a nuke through that. That field will then contain the blast."_

Fury groans, that was one plan out the window, he hadn't expected that the World Council would have gotten a hold of another witch, let alone one from Sunnydale.

"With all due respect I will not order a nuclear hit on the city of Manhattan until I know my team cannot handle this."  
 _"_ _If you do not do this. The human race will lose. Will lose everything."_

Fury glares at the members of the Council once more "If I send that bird out we already have." He hisses before slamming close the conversation.

* * *

Willow raises her hands towards the tesseract, covering the device in a red glow, as she attempts to close the portal a throbbing pain courses through her head and slowly blood begins to pool down her nose and from her ears.

"Ahh!" Willow screams out in agony before dropping down to her knees, a loud piercing noise fills her head making her insides feel as though they were trying to tear free of her.

"Ms Rosenburg." Selvig says hesitantly as he approaches her to try and help her stand.

Willow shakes him off and clenches her eyes shut trying to force the images of monsters and planets imploding out of her brain, however, two piercing eyes filled her thoughts, evil eyes. It felt like the devil himself was in her brain worming through it.

Taking a large gasp she clutches her chest before slowly standing, she winces slightly before turning to Selvig "I can't close it, the magic in that object...it's far beyond anything I've ever felt."

Selvig sighs before handing her Loki's sceptre "The spectre...Loki's spectre. The energy. The tesseract can't fight, but it can't protect against itself."

Willow's eyes widen in that moment as she looks at the sceptre "It's part of the sceptre."

Suddenly a loud explosion goes off overhead and suddenly a loud crashing noise comes from the penthouse. Willow turns freezing as she spots Loki crash into the Penthouse, followed by the Hulk; before she could even do anything, another crash and scuffle comes from the other side of the roof.

Willow immediately takes notices of the gorgeous redhead standing opposite her "Well it must be my birthday." She breathes out as she watches the woman come towards her.

Natasha frowns as she spots the other red head watching her intently "Hi. I'm Natasha Buffy sent me."

* * *

Buffy groans as she crashes out of the four-story window and hits the wall of the opposite building, she groans as her back hits the concrete building before she crashing down to the ground landing painfully in the middle of the street.

"Buffy!" A voice exclaims, Buffy looks up from the ground to see an exhausted Steve walking towards her, offering her a hand the blonde woman takes his hand in her own and allows him to help her stand.

"You look like crap." She says with a chuckle gesturing to his now missing mask and the cuts on his arms.

Steve smiles at the young woman however before the two could say anything else another blast in fired at them, Steve tackles Buffy to the ground landing on top of her as they roll across the floor avoiding the blasts.

The two come to a stop Buffy sighs before looking up at Steve who clears his throat uncomfortably and quickly climbs off her before pulling both himself and her behind a car, hidden from the blasts rapidly being fired at them.

* * *

"Sir, we have a bird in motion!" Maria Hill exclaims as her hands fly across the security screens trying desperately to shut down the jet "Anyone on the desk, we have a rogue bird."

Fury's eyes widen. The Council. He takes off in a run towards the exit grabbing a rocket launcher from the weapons room as he makes his way to the hanger.

Fury kicks down the door to the hanger raising the launcher, immediately he aims it at the jet currently flying past him.

As the jet crashes back down he breathes a sigh of relief only to instantly panic as another jet zooms past into the sky heading towards New York. Fury grabs his gun and fires however it was too late.

"Stark, you hear me?" Fury asks urgently as he storms back into the building.

 _"_ _Which one?"_ A female voice asks, clearly Buffy.

 _"_ _Adult Stark."_ Tony's voice says as he cuts in only to instantly be cut off by Buffy " _Okay me then."_

Fury groans in annoyance "Don't have time for you two Stark to banter. We have a missile heading for the city."

* * *

Buffy frowns in confusion at Fury's words as she ducks her head again from being hit by the incoming blasts "But Willow put a forcefield around the city."

 _"_ _The World Council have someone from Sunnydale in custody."_

Buffy eyes widen, in that moment she realized why Willow had disappeared for all those months. She was trying to get her out of their hands to make sure she was properly contained "Amy." She hisses before turning to Steve "I need to get to Willow. Now!"

* * *

As Natasha pushes the spectre into the tesseract Willow raises her hand forcing the forcefield around the tesseract the separate weakening its power.

Suddenly, however, she freezes as she spots the look on Natasha's face "What?"

"We have a missile coming towards the city. It will wipe out the whole city."

* * *

Buffy leaps over the car ignoring the pain in her side she runs past the aliens slicing and dicing as she makes her way to the tower like a mad woman.

She ignores the calls of Steve and Thor and continues on her path towards the tower. Willow was the only one who could stop this.

Leaping onto one of the alien jet skies again she ignores the argument between Steve and Tony over comms as they discuss the incoming missile and makes her way to the tower.

As she approaches the roof she spots her best friend "Willow!" Buffy yells as she leaps off the jet ski and over to her best friend who was still holding her hands towards the portal while Natasha held the Sceptre right by the crown of the machine.

Willow's eyes widen as she spots the missile force it's way through her force field and into the city "No." She breaths out. This was her fault. She should have stopped Amy when she had the chance, but she had let her go. She hadn't wanted to spill blood but now that mistake was going to result in millions of people, innocent people dying for her mistake.

"Buffy." Willow breathes out as she spots Tony grab onto the missile and leed it up towards the portal.

Buffy frowns and her head swings around, immediately she gasps, her hand covering her mouth in horror "No! Dad!"

 _"_ _Hey, Buff."_

Buffy takes a shaky breath as she watches her father fly by "Dad...what—what are you doing...you can't—you can't do this."

 _"_ _I have to kid. You've always been the hero in the family. Let me do this. I love you, Buffy."_

When the line goes dead her eyes widen in horror, she looks up and spots her father rapidly approaching the portal "Nooooo!" She exclaims.

Buffy turns to Willow her eyes pouring with tears "Stop it please, Will, there has to be a way. Please."

Willow looks at her best friend her heart broke at the sight of her best friend falling apart. The girl had lost so much.

She places a hand on Buffy's cheek "I love you, Buff. But this is my doing. I need to fix it."

Buffy frowns in confusion before suddenly Willow disappears.

* * *

As Tony attempts to call Pepper he swallows the pain at the idea of never seeing his daughter again. He had missed so much of her life because of his name. She was the light in his life the only thing precious to him, but as long as she lived it would all be worth it.

Suddenly just as he comes to accept his fate his body goes rigid, he frowns "Jarvis?"

 _"_ _Apologies sir, I seem to have no control anymore. Someone has accessed my system."_

Tony's eyes widen as he spots Willow floating in front of him, she shakes her head sadly, she could read his thought, his one hope that she could use magic to float the missile to space, but Amy's spell was strong she couldn't break it. It had to be carried out of this atmosphere before the magic would fade.

"Don't worry. She'll see you again. I've made my choice." Willow says "I can be with the woman I love now. I'm ready."

Just as Tony begins to realise where she is going with this she raises her hand and hits him with a bolt of energy sending his body crashing right back down towards the city.

Willow catches the missile in her arms and after a brief hesitation flies through the portal.

* * *

Buffy flies through the city in one of her father's suit, she had stolen it the moment Willow took off, spotting her father crashing towards the ground she catches him and lowers him to the ground.

As she moves to go after Willow her father grabs her ankle, Buffy fights him off prepared to go after her best friend. Suddenly the suit separates from her, Buffy growls and looks down to see her father having ordered Jarvis to power off the suit.

As the suit falls from her Buffy turns to him "No! That's Willow Dad! She—she can't..." Her breathing becomes panicked and shakes violently, she screams out and tries to run to get to the portal.

Tony grabs her from behind as she screams at the portal for her best friend, at that moment Steve and Thor appear, they both freeze as they spot Buffy screaming at the portal tears dripping down her face.

* * *

Willow's eyes widen as the oxygen begins escaping her body, she forces her eyes to stay open as she watches the missile move towards the mother ship.

A small smile graces her lips as the ship implodes sending a burning sensation towards her before finally, she feels her organs begin to fail and her heart beat slow. With one last breath, she closes her eyes accepting her fate, her sacrifice.

* * *

"No." Buffy cries as she falls to her knees on the ground, Tony sighs guilty and lowers his mask clutching the screaming girl to him closely.

Looking over at Steve it seemed that they both had the same thought, Willow hadn't had any form of protection, nothing to keep the oxygen in her system.

Steve after a brief hesitation reaches for his coms "Close it."

As Natasha closes the portal Buffy looks up tears filling her vision, she takes a gasping breath hoping for one last chance that Willow would make it but as the portal closed nothing came through. She was gone. Her best friend was gone.

Buffy gasps loudly "Noooo!" She cries out ignoring the blood dripping from her face as she looks up at the sky where her best friend had disappeared to save her father. To save the world.

* * *

Buffy stands by her father and the rest of the team in Stark Tower as Loki crawls against the floor.

Her face was emotionless, the pain from losing Willow still so fresh, she glares down at Loki as he finally turns towards all of them and raises his hands in defence "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now."

Buffy glares at him before kicking him in the face, knocking him unconscious "I need a drink."

* * *

Buffy stands next to her dad as they watch Loki gagged and handcuffed by Thor's side as they prepare to head back to Asgard.

"I want him dead." Buffy hisses.

Tony sighs sadly and wraps an arm around her shoulders "That's not what she would want."

Buffy groans and swallows down the grief before watching with a flat expression as Thor and Loki as well as the tesseract disappear.

As Banner and Tony get into the car Buffy heads over to Steve who offers her a small smile "I'm sorry about your friend. She was a hero."

"Yeah." Buffy breathes out "She was. And always will be. But now...she gets to be with Tara."

Steve takes her hand hesitantly a small sign of support before releasing her "I hope to see you again, Buffy Summers."  
Buffy blinks up and looks him in his deep blue eyes and offers him the same smile "I'm sure we will. Maybe when I'm back from Scotland I'll help you figure out what the internet is."

Steve frowns in confusion making her smile slightly, he smiles at her "I would appreciate that."

"Buffy!" Her father yells from the car glaring at the two of them "Back away from the man-boy!"  
Buffy shakes her head in amusement before waving goodbye to Steve and climbing into the backseat of the car.

"So where to Buffy?" Tony asks as he puts the car into drive.

Buffy watches the city pass her by as they speed through the streets, she glances down at her phone staring at the photo of herself Willow and Xander and smiles "Scotland. But...we'll be back. We'll rebuild.


	22. Post Credit Scene

A body of a beautiful redheaded woman floats through the emptiness of space. A cocoon surrounds her, a light red glow covering her body, protecting it.

Slowly a powerful shadow pulls the red glow towards the darkness.

 _"_ _To challenge them is to court death."_ A hooded figure says as it appears from the shadows approaching the red glow.

A large figure stands an evil smile on his face. Eyes like the devil.

He looks down at the woman below him before summoning the Dark Matter of the Aether towards the glow _"Which is why we now have their greatest weakness."_ He says with an evil smirk before watching aether destroy the red glow protecting the woman. The dark matter seeps into her skin, as her body pales, veins becoming more apparent and her hair begins to darken before finally, her black, empty eyes slam open.


End file.
